Why Can't We Be Like That?
by nellenora the explorer
Summary: Sort of sequel to Accidentally in Love, more info in the A/N :) Focusing more on the Luke/Arianna relationship than the Clive/Flora one, although I'm sure there'll still be some Clora drabble at times :3 Rated T for swears, and occasional suggestiveness. Reviews are always appreciated! :D
1. Chapter 1

**I'm baaaaaaa-aaaaaaaack ;)**

**So this is the start of the sequel to Accidentally in Love, but I don't know if I'd really call it a sequel 'cause it's not directly linked or anything, as I've decided to focus on Luke more in this than the whole Clive/Flora shebang (please don't hurt me if you came here for Clora, there'll be more of that I promise :D)**  
**I seem to recall telling someone that I'd start uploading once I had five chapters, but I've had five chapters a while now, just kept getting distracted and genuinely ran out of ideas for a little, but then I got inspired by goodness knows what and am making progress (if very very very slow progress) :)  
This one's really short however, as like a teeny little intro thing, and even though I'd love to do a double upload I don't really have time (gotta get stuff sorted for an art trip tomorrow, which I genuinely hope doesn't end up turning into an Ib-esque adventure x) We've been warned about touching exhibits because there's a particularly sharp one in one of the galleries, which, as a child who does enjoy touching things, is a bit of a worry o.O) or enough prepared content to be able to do such things :/**

**Anyhoo, back to the story at hand. I hope you enjoy it, and it would be really nice to see some new faces as well as my old buddies from AIL, so do keep reading and reviewing you wonderful people :) ~nellen xx**

**(Oh, and a wiki said Luke was 13 in Curious Village, Pandora's Box and Unwound Future, which I in no way believe [c'mon, he was like eleven at most!] but will accept anyways for the sake of story. Luke is 15 in this, and I'd reccomend reading chapter 22 in the AIL to get a better idea of how I've changed him)**

* * *

It'd been around three months since Clive and Flora had properly gotten together, but by looking at them you'd think they'd been partners forever.

Even the Professor himself thought they made an excellent couple, although both he and Luke had been horrified at what it had taken for the to get to that point.  
Hershel had pointed out that Mark should be in prison, and that Clive was lucky to have avoided it once more, while Luke agreed with his older friend, and offered to 'help' if it ever happened again.  
It wasn't just Clive and Flora's relationship that was improving however.  
Luke and Arianna were still together, which for them was a minor miracle, and even the Professor had found someone, a charming, if slightly irritating, young woman called Emmy.  
They'd already met once, when they'd gone to help Luke and solve the mystery of the giant spectre that was terrorising his home town of Misthallery, and, much to then Luke's annoyance, it was already quite clear that she would become the better apprentice.

Present Luke was considerably less bothered by his teacher's new love, because the more time the Professor spent out with Emmy, the more time he could spend with Arianna.

And the more time he spent with Arianna, the less time he had to worry about her spending time with Crow.


	2. Chapter 2

**It would seem has updated, how... wonderful... Especially for someone who isn't a fan of sudden changes like moi..**  
**Do like the new style though, it's quite nice and modern isn't it?**

**Clairefoley thank yoou :3 and I thought he was kinda hot too Rosalia, but then I saw a picture of the real him that wasn't fan art and... Ick.. Hahaha, still haven't heard his voice though, because my DS has been sucked into some kind of magical mystical void where I'll never find it again. Which is clearly the only answer, because I've been through my cupboard like 20 times now :(**

**Another short one, I think all of the first few are sorry haha, enjoy all the same ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

Both Crow and Arianna had been friends to Luke back in Misthallery, and both were sad to see him leave for an apprenticeship with the Professor.  
Ari had taken a longing to see him one step further, moving schools and even towns to be with him once again.  
They'd both changed a lot since they were little, and soon an innocent friendship began to grow into something more... Well, grown up.

They'd started 'going out' not long after she'd arrived, and things were turning sour not long after that.  
He hated the way everything just changed so suddenly, going from almost perfect to something quite the opposite.

No, not perfect. Things had never been perfect with Arianna.

Luke felt sorry for her, of course he did, and he loved her and wanted to keep her safe and happy. He just wasn't very good at showing it.

Another thing Luke wasn't very good at was confidence.  
He'd been bullied a lot when he first started high school, and had definitely had to adjust.  
A new image, a new style, until eventually, although he'd never understood why, he was catapulted to become the leader of the populars, whom he ruled with a half hearted smile.  
He wasn't very happy at the top, but he supposed it had to be a lot better than being at the bottom.

It just had to.

He'd been at the bottom enough times to know it wasn't something he ever wanted again, even if that did mean lying to others and himself, and so continued to smile and chat, and laugh and joke, and pick on some of the weaker kids even though it made him feel awful, because that was what kept him at the top, and at the top, nothing really mattered.

But then Crow had turned up, bored of a friendless life back in Misthallery and excited for a new life in the city.  
Everything changed with his arrival, but not for the better, not at all.

Crow hadn't needed to adjust, he was already cool. Girls fell instantaneously for his looks and bad-boy charm, and boys would try hard to copy his image in the hope of becoming his friend.  
Luke hadn't really cared at first, he was quite ready to hang up his crown and let a new leader step up.  
No, he never really cared, not until Crow began getting involved with Arianna.  
Then things began getting personal, and out of hand.

There'd been a few arguments, mostly verbal, but quite strong all the same. There'd been rumours of a fight scheduled after school one day, but Luke soon brushed them off. He didn't really want to get involved in anything violent, preferring to use his sharp tongue as opposed to his considerably less effective fists.

He'd never really been much of a fighter, and despite being a lot fitter than what he used to be, didn't really have the strength to scrap with his one time friend.

He blamed it on a demanding amount of schoolwork and stress over some upcoming exams, but you could see from the circles under his eyes and the pallor of his skin that a little extra homework wasn't the only thing causing it.  
Late nights and little sleep were beginning to take their toll, as was a very limited diet. He didn't like eating as much as he used to anymore, and deep down was slightly afraid to go back to being what he was.

Luke knew he was being ridiculous, and was smart enough to understand what was going on, but he just didn't have the energy to care anymore.

All he could do was think of Ari, and Crow, and ways to try and solve both puzzles in one.


	3. Chapter 3

**Eveniiiing :) Sorry this is a bit late, I was going to update earlier but then my internet was all like 'lol nope not today nuh-uh', and kept crashing out. Then when I fixed it my friend decided she was going to go through all my old Facebook pictures and dredge them back up to the surface of the interwebz o.O  
Thanks again, and I'm glad you like it Claire :3  
****I'm afraid this is another short one Rosalia, but I've got some longer ones in progress :)  
I struggled with a little bit of writer's block when I first started this, so the first few aren't the biggest :L**

**I don't know if I'll even get round to playing Azran Legacies at this rate, everything's on 3DS these days ;_;**

**~nellen :) xx**

* * *

Luke and Arianna had never had a solid relationship, barely a week would pass without some form of argument.

He just couldn't help it, the ever-growing paranoia and his notoriously fiery temper burning up inside, until he couldn't hold it anymore and had to snap. Ari, of course, would then snap back, her own short temper making fights a regular occurrence.

"Have fun with Crow?"  
"What's it to you?"  
"Well since you're my_ girlfriend_, I do sort of have a right to know!"  
"You're ridiculously controlling, you know that? We were just talking! Why can't you just let me live my life without questioning every little thing I do!?"

"Wh-! B-b-" Luke stuttered, unable to come up with any counter arguments, much to his girlfriend's amusement.

"Dumbstruck are we? Never were that smart," she sneered, an evil smirk flashing across her dark red lips, "Crow was though, still is in fact."

"Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!" Luke wailed, pulling at his hair in frustration. He hated it when she spoke about Crow, in that special purr that he'd hoped would only be for him. "You never shut up about _him_! Can't you see how much it tears me apart? Sometimes I think you'd rather be with him than me!"

"Hmm, sometimes I think that too," she shrugged with another flash of that smirk, "reckon it's normal?"

"No! No its not normal!"  
"Then what is normal, eh Luke? Screaming at your head off at your girlfriend because she wanted to talk to an old mate?"  
"You're so! Agh!"  
"Wow Luke, you're really not on form today, you're normally better than this," Ari muttered lightly, lips curling in another of her smirks, "now if you don't mind, I'm going shopping with some friends in half an hour, is that okay with you?"

She didn't stay for an answer, turning sharply on her heels to leave.

_"Wait," _Luke wanted to shout, _"I didn't mean it! I love you! Come back!"_

But no words came out of the young boy's mouth as the door slammed loudly shut, his lips just opening and closing silently like a fish on land.

An awkward, paranoid, antisocial fish, on an extremely complicated stretch of land.


	4. Chapter 4

**Unscheduled update. I like mixing things up sometimes. Deal with it.**

**No but seriously this is another teeny tiny kinda rubbishy chapter that I didn't think would be worth a proper update, so I thought I might as well stick it up now and resume normal updating tomorrow, hope that's alright :)**

**Thanks again for reviewing Claire :3**

***sighs* I probably can't afford this.. Oh well**

**~a somewhat slightly sleepy nellen :) xx**

* * *

Luke sighed as his phone vibrated, pulling a pillow over his head in a bid to ignore it.  
He groaned loudly as it continued to buzz, practically yelling when it fell to the floor with a loud bang.

"Luke? You there?"  
"No clearly not!" the young boy growled into his mattress, letting the phone go to answer phone.

"Luke it's Flora, I just wanted to check you were okay..." There was a pause, then, "I heard about... Ari. Again. Look, she's not worth it. Why don't you come over for tea later? Clive's cooking, and you could go for a walk with Bruno, some fresh air could do you some good..." another pause, "look, just text me back when you get this, 'Kay? We're worried."

"Everyone's worried," he mumbled, scrunching the blankets up around his head, "there's no need."  
_"  
There probably is," _a new voice muttered in his mind,_ "you're talking to yourself now Luke. In third person now. Poor little Luke, can't get a girl to like him. I wonder why? Maybe she's right. Maybe he's stupid. Maybe he's crazy."_

"No, shut up," he muttered, thrashing around beneath the blankets. "Shut up. I'm not mad. Shut up."

A hand shot out from under the covers, feeling across the top of a bedside cabinet until he found the box he was looking for.  
The little foil packet made a satisfying popping noise as he pushed one of the tablets from it's compartment, a paracetamol for his headache.

Voices counted as a headache, right?


	5. Chapter 5

**Hola :3 it's another shortie today sorry, I guess I kind of neglected this at the start :/  
But I am putting more effort into it now, I just had to get back in the swing of things, that's all :)**

**Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reviewing again Claire :D ~nellen xx**

**Ooh, also one minor swear I think, so uh, brace yourselves for that I suppose ^.^**

* * *

The doorbell rang a few times, before anyone could answer it, and Luke supposed Flora and Clive were too busy kissing to open it.

That was all they seemed to do these days, kissing and cuddling and whatever other 'romantic' things you could name.

Luke didn't blame them of course, all you had to do was glance at them to see that they were madly in love, and as much as he hated to admit it, the boy was almost kind of... Jealous...

Why couldn't he and Arianna do things like that? Why couldn't they walk holding hands, or go out for lunch, or cuddle up and watch a film on a rainy day?

He was just about to leave when the door finally opened, a slightly red faced Flora greeting him with a smile and a hug.  
He'd grown, in the girl's own terms, "less dickheadish," towards the couple over time, and they were now pretty close as friends, which both parties were secretly glad of.

"You know I can just go home if you're busy," he grinned, hugging his friend back tight, "wouldn't want to interrupt anything."  
He winked as he broke away and laughed as the girl's cheeks grew pinker.  
"You weren't," Flora giggled, pulling him inside and shutting the door behind him. "I... We..."  
"We were just playing a game with Bruno, it got a bit out of hand," a slightly disheveled Clive chuckled, entering the hallway and chucking a tennis ball at his friend.  
Almost immediately Flora was wrapped in his arms once more, mouthing "nice save," as she kissed his nose.

"Is that code for snogging now?" Luke laughed, kicking away the ball and ignoring the jealousy gnawing away at his gut.

_"Why can't me and Ari cuddle like that?"_

"Maybe," Clive purred, pulling a face at the boy and twirling Flora from his embrace.  
He kept a hold of her hand though, he was never very willing to let it go.

_"Seriously, they make it look so easy, why can't it be that easy for us?"_

"How does pizza sound?" The older boy continued, smiling back across at Luke, "home-made, obviously."  
"Sounds nice," he nodded, "made by yourself, of course."  
"Indeed," Clive replied, in a ridiculously posh accent that set them all of laughing again, "indeed."


	6. Chapter 6

**Yaay a longer chapter, I guess I'm getting better at this ^_^ *happy dances*  
Thankyou Claire :3 and I'm the same Rosalia! That review also reminded me of that Family Guy scene when Peter gets all excited about people saying the name of the film within the film and just started laughing in an otherwise quiet room xD that was a cute summary too, and I speak literally no Italian (apart from minor things I learned from Mario..) but a penpal sounds fun :D  
~nellen xx  
(oh, swearing again. Sorry haha)**

* * *

"I thought Flora said you were cooking," Luke laughed, following Clive through to the kitchen with an armful of pizza boxes.  
"Pfffffft, cooking," his friend replied with a careless wave of the hand, "I can't cook. If it weren't for Matt and pot noodles, I would starve and die."  
"You literally could not cope without her, could you?"  
"Matt's a him."  
"No, I mean Flora."  
"Oh," Clive mumbled, slightly taken aback by the statement. "I guess not. She's my world," he shrugged, "my world, and my chef."  
"It's cute," Luke laughed, "you're a lot better than Mark."  
"Everyone and anyone's better than Mark," the other muttered, his voice taking a slightly darker tone as he remembered the man he hated so much.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"  
"It's cool," he brushed it off, forcing a smile which soon morphed into a genuine grin as Flora entered the room.

"I thought you said you were cooking," she laughed, slipping her arm straight through his.  
They never let go, when they could help it, and even if they couldn't they'd still try.

Luke had this theory that if you separated them for more than twenty-four hours they'd go into some form of shock or withdrawal, but no one had ever tested it yet.

"Flora, darling, did you really think that Clive, the human sloth, would actually make his own pizza?" He chuckled, kissing her head and handing her a box, "besides, Luke likes it. And Luke is what matters today."  
"I am?" He frowned quizzically, taking a bite of his dinner.

His wretched self-confidence issues always seemed to fade when he was with Flora and Clive, and he was less bothered about eating when around them. He hardly ate at all at school, a bite of a sandwich and a bottle of water and that was usually it, but was weirdly fine eating with his older friends, who, if he was honest, he considered more to be kind of sister and sort of brother-in-law.

"You are," Flora nodded, grabbing his hand and dragging both boys to the table, "so what happened this time? Was it about...?"  
"Yeah, it was," the youngest mumbled, beginning to play with his food instead of eating it as he sat down.  
"You know you're better than them both don't you?"  
"Am I? Really?"  
"Yup," the couple nodded in unison, "you're a lot better."

"Hey, since it's a Friday, why don't you stay at ours again? I'll call the Professor, we've got all the Paranormal Activity films up to now, and the Saw ones, if you wanna watch 'em," Flora added, slipping out of her seat and letting go of Clive to grab the phone, near certain of the answer.

"I've got Mama too," Clive whispered, tapping the side of his nose, "but we'll save that for when she goes to bed."  
"You know how much she disapproves of pirated films Dove," Luke grinned, muttering under his breath, "does it look good?"  
"Awesome, haven't you seen the trailer?"

"The trailer for what?" Flora chirped, having caught only the last sentence of Clive's, "what film are you on about?"  
"Um, uh, well..."  
"Clive was planning a surprise for you," Luke beamed brightly, leaning back in his chair, "but I guess the game's up. He's booked a table at that new restaurant down Batsley Street, and then he was going to take you to see the Host."  
"Aww, you're so lovely," she grinned, kissing Clive's head and pinching his cheeks, "sorry I ruined the surprise."  
"Nah it's cool, I was going to ask you anyways in case you made other plans," he smiled, kicking Luke in the shin and hissing, "that film's shit you arse, why couldn't you say something better?" whilst his girlfriend's back was turned, making the younger boy laugh.  
"Chill, she's happy," Luke chuckled, "besides, you might like it."  
"Doubt it," he growled through gritted teeth, as Flora turned back around.

"Hersh says it's fine, but to ring if you want anything dropped off," she giggled, sliding back into her seat beside her boyfriend.

She liked that word, 'boyfriend', it really confirmed that she and Clive were together, something the girl herself was still struggling to believe.

He treated her like a princess, always buying her little gifts or doing things for her that she needed done. He helped out with coursework when he could, looked after her when she needed to be looked after, and, as he'd promised her that drunken night after meeting new Luke for the first time, he refused to let a day go by without telling her how lovely she was.  
In turn, she tried to be as helpful as she could too, and made sure he never left the house without a goodbye kiss and a cuddle. It wasn't much, but it was more than enough to keep them both very happy.

Very happy indeed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Woah.. Is it really Sunday already?  
sorry ;_; I wasn't neglecting you, I've been writing all weekend, promise! I've just been a bit busy with other things (like watching Cry play The Cat Lady.. Holy **** that game's messed up o.O) and fangirling over Doctor Who.. Sorryy**

**Aww Claire :3 your reviews are so nice, thankyoou ^_^**  
**Aha awesome Rosalia :D I'm not really a massive horror movie fan personally, never have been and probably never will be.. Just too much of a wuss :L I scared myself with trailers just researching for this fic x) I still have to play the first Ib (still stuck on Mad Father, even though I've watched so many playthroughs I keep having to do suicide runs through the zombie hallway thing and getting caught halfway..) but I'm really hoping Pewds does it again 'cause I'm hearing good things about it :)**

**Gonna do a double upload because didn't when I was supposed to :L ~nellen xx**

* * *

An hour or so after tea, the three of them were sitting, or lying, around the tv, ready to watch the first film they'd picked.  
Flora was stretched out across the sofa, Clive lying on the floor, propped up against the chair she was wrapped up on.  
Luke was curled up in an armchair by himself, his duvet pulled around him for warmth, which, as Clive often joked about, was Luke code for "protection."  
_"Well yeah, it protects me from the cold."_  
_"And monsters."_  
_"Those too."_

The lights were off, the volume was up, and the film was rolling on.  
Flora was tucked beneath a blanket and Clive's arm by the time it had finished, and Luke had occupied the settee she'd evacuated, sheets pulled all the way up his face ready to cover his eyes in an instant.  
"So uh, who's brave enough to change the disc?" He chuckled weakly, tucking his knees up to his chest.

You'd think they'd be used to it by now, having seen it many many times, but they still managed to scare themselves stupid with every view.

"I'm not," Flora mumbled, snuggling further under the blankets, "I've only just gotten nice and warm and comfortable under here."  
There was a pause, then a sigh.  
"I volunteer, I volunteer as tribute," Clive muttered, crawling across the floor to swap DVDs. Luke and Flora glanced at each other, a knowing nod shared whilst the boy had his back turned. Flora's hand slid under Luke's blanket, and he slipped an ice cube from his drink into her hand.  
They waited until their friend had crawled back to play their trick, Luke being the distraction and Flora the culprit.  
"So Clive," he grinned, "looking forward to seeing part two again?"  
"I am," Flora smiled, wrapping an arm around her boyfriend's shoulder, "although it always gives me shivers."  
She dropped the ice down the back of his shirt, crying with laughter as he immediately jumped up and flailed around.  
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod why would you even do that? It is freezing! Ah! It's a cruel world!" Even Luke was almost in tears as he sank dramatically to his knees and clutched at his chest, "now who will change the film over when the credits are done?"  
"I will," Luke smirked defiantly, "we don't need you."  
"I. Am. Hurt!" Clive gasped, sliding back under the quilt with Flora.  
"So am I," she laughed, "stop kicking me!"  
"I'm not kicking you," he frowned, wiggling his feet outside of the blankets to prove it.  
"Me neither," added Luke, rubbing his foot against her face.  
"Well who's kicking me?"  
"I don't know."  
"Me neither."  
"Oh."  
"Oh."

"Do you think now would be a good time to panic?"  
"Probably."

Flora squealed and leapt back onto the sofa with Luke, a somewhat disgruntled looking Bruno shuffling out from the bottom of the covers.  
"And there is your kicker," Clive snickered, clambering up to share the chair with his friends, "hey if we're all up here we're totally safe. Why didn't we think of this before?"  
"Because we don't all fit!" The other two laughed, struggling to claim more seat space before anyone else could.  
"Nonsense," he smiled, pushing Flora jokingly onto the floor and helping her straight back up. "Flo can sit on my knee, Luke can have the remaining space. Problem solved."  
"Hey, this reminds me of a puzzle," Luke almost made himself laugh with his terrible Professor impression, gladly sharing blankets with Flora and squashing up into a tighter ball.  
"If a sofa can hold two people, how many easily afraid young adults can you squeeze onto it before somebody bursts something?" She giggled, nestling into the gap behind Clive's curled up legs and sliding Luke's outstretched ones across her knees. It was weirdly comfortable, and comforting to the girl.

Clive was on one side, protective and caring as always, and Luke was on the other, a good friend to cuddle into when the movie grew scarier.  
He was somewhat less nice to cuddle into since becoming more interested in his fitness and weight, but a good hugger all the same.


	8. Chapter 8

**Second upload of today, happy Easter everyone! :3 ~nellen who is ready to consume bodyweight in chocolate :D xx**

**Swears again, sorryy :L**

* * *

"Right, that's it, I'm off to bed," Flora yawned, standing up to leave and stretching her legs, "you can stay up to watch more if you want, but I am exhausted."  
"Naw, is Flora frightened of the scary ghosts," Clive grinned, immediately jumping up beside her to kiss her on the lips, "here, they can't touch you if you aren't touching the floor. That's paranormal-logic."  
He quickly scooped her up before she could argue, resting her against his chest and flinging the duvet around his shoulders like a cape.  
"Super Clive is here to help," he laughed, nodding at Luke to change the disc and disappearing upstairs.  
He returned a few minutes later, "Flo must have fallen asleep on the way up bless her," he chuckled, a wicked glint in his eye as he picked up the remote.  
"Ready to be more scared and confused than you've ever been in your entire life?"  
Luke nodded eagerly, "ready. Yourself?"  
"Probably not, let's do this shit," the older laughed, pulling his blankets closer around his body and resuming his spot on the floor. "Sorry, we'll have to sit through the ads first, the only real problem with pirate copies."  
"Yeah..." Luke mumbled, biting his lip for a second, "um... Clive... Can I ask you something?"  
"Sure thing kiddo, fire away."

"When did you first fall in love with Flora?"

"Uh, what?" Clive mumbled, caught a little off guard by the question, "well, I guess it was right from the start. You love Ari don't you?"  
Luke shrugged, "I don't know, everyone tells me I'm too young to know what to feel, but, I was so sure-"  
"Well they're talking rubbish. Love happens when it happens. You can't control it," his friend frowned, shaking it off straight away, "anyways, have you always known that you loved her, or was it just recently?"  
"Well, I guess, there'd always been something there, I just, I'm too stupid to-"  
"You aren't stupid-"  
"Hahaha, and you aren't an ex con."

"No, Luke, I mean it. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for. Anyway, back to the original point. You don't fall in love at a specific time for a specific reason, you just, it just happens. I was in no way prepared when I first met Flora, it was just, it didn't like it. Strong, independent, intelligent Clive Dove, getting butterflies over a silly little girl he barely knew, how ridiculous! But Flora wasn't silly, and it wasn't ridiculous. I had a lot of time to think in prison, spent a lot of time pacing up and down in my shitty little cell and trying to work out what was wrong. And that was when it hit me."  
"That you loved Flora Reinhold," the younger smiled, ending the story as though it was his favourite fairytale.

It was, in a way, although he'd never dare to admit it.  
It was like Beauty and the Beast, sort of. Flora, the sweet little daughter of a wealthy baron, and Clive, a lonely, bitter young man with a lot of money and nobody to share it with.

He knew that wasn't exactly how the story went, but it was good enough for him.  
"I've got to say," he added aloud, "at least half of that just wasn't relevant at all."

Clive shrugged with a chuckle, "neither was your question, but it happened didn't it? Now, you ready to be scarred for life?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Ola :)**

**I'm glad you liked 'em Claire :3 and I almost instantly made a connection between Clive and Garry in my mind when I first saw the latter, Rosalia, although I can't exactly explain it :L**  
**Yeah we have Spring break, we're on it now :D**

**Two weeks of no school = stupidly late nights = a lot more writing done = a mildly more efficient nellen. Holiday maths.**

**Anyhoo, hope you enjoy the chapter hehe, ciao for now :) ~nellen xx**

* * *

Nobody slept well that night, well, morning.  
Clive and Luke had both drifted off to bed around three, both a little more shaken than they'd imagined they'd be.

Luke was in the spare room, and his friend grabbed him a couple of extra blankets from the airing cupboard before slipping off to the room he shared with Flora.  
Clive gently eased his way under the covers, careful not to wake her up as he enveloped her in his arms.

There was no way he'd be letting go that night.

Luke, however, was not so fortunate, and woke up only and hour or two later, drenched in sweat with a splitting headache. He cried out once, and Flora was in the doorway immediately.  
"Are you alright sweetheart?" She yawned, shuffling over to hug the clearly distressed young boy.  
"Yeah, just had a bad dream, that's all," he tried to smile, failing miserably and settling on a feigned one instead, "I guess I shouldn't have stayed up for that last film with Clive."  
The girl giggled, "he's hardly slept either, kept kicking me by accident. I only just managed to escape to go get a drink, he didn't want me to leave him alone. What did you guys even watch?"  
"A foreign horror, was a bit gory, some kids got possessed, yeah," he shrugged, it was close enough to the truth right?  
"What was it called?"  
"Foreignese."

"Well then," she laughed, kissing his head and breaking away from the hug, "remind me to never watch it. Oh, speaking of child possession, I was thinking of going to see Mama at the cinema, I reckon we could smuggle you in if you wante-"  
"No!" Luke yelped, "uh, I mean, I think I've had enough horrors for one week, um, I think I might try and get some more sleep, uh, night."  
"Riiiight..." Flora muttered, turning on her heel and skipping back to the doorway. She cast a final look back at him, smiling as she whispered, "good night."

"Night," he mumbled, watching her leave through half closed eyes. A sharp stab of jealousy hit him right in the chest; why couldn't he have someone to hold onto and never let go of?  
He stretched his sleepy arms, grabbing his phone from the bedside table. The usually dull light of the screen was painfully bright in such a dark little room, but he continued nonetheless, checking various sites before heading to the photos. He scrolled past picture after picture, lazily flicking the screen until he found the one he wanted.  
There was a boy in the photo, and a girl. The girl was sitting on the boy's back, her legs wrapped around his waist and her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder. The boy was grinning from ear to ear, his dark eyes creased at the corners.

His blue cap had been stolen, sitting lazily on the head of the smiling girl, who's eyes of the same sky hue sparkled in the warm orange sunset.

A coy smile worked its way onto his dry lips, as he scanned through a couple more photos. The summer they'd been taken in had been one of the best ones of his life.  
No school, no Crow, no arguments.

Just day after day of walking through the park, eating lunch outside, and lying in the grass under the peach evening sky.  
Luke's smile soon faded, replaced by a yawn and a tired sigh, as he slid the phone back onto the table.

He wished he could travel back in time, go back to the days when jealousy wasn't an issue, before insecurities and distrust raised their ugly little heads.

Back to the days when he and Arianna were happy.

Back to the days when they were in love.


	10. Chapter 10

**Can't think of a decent greeting so I'm just leaping straight into replies;**

**Thanks Claire :3 the wait is up! For the next couple days anyhoo :D**  
**Emily, wow, I don't really know what to say :D Thank you so so much, it really means a lot :)**  
**SQUEEEEEEEEEEE THANKS MRSCLIVEDOVE :D that's like my favourite noise ever, I'm not even joking. You ever heard a baby sloth? ADORABLE :3**  
**I hope not Rosalia, I don't think I could bring myself to write a tragedy like Claire's ;_;**  
**I felt a little apprehensive about pairing the Prof with Emmy cause of it, but I guess he's had time to move on, right? Thank's for the review :)**  
**Lolidge! I missed you haha, and that's alright, phones are silly xD**

**I'm feeling cocky, I might go for another double upload tonight. You're all so darn nice :'3**

**Much love ~nellen :) xx**

**(swears again, you know the drill)**

* * *

"Sleep well?" Luke smiled, sipping his tea and lowering his feet from the coffee table they rested on.  
He'd given up on even trying to get some rest after waking up again only an hour after the first time, drifting quietly downstairs to watch whatever easy early morning crap he could find.  
He'd settled on some old Jeremy Kyle reruns they were showing on one of the main channels, but didn't really have the energy to laugh at them like he used to.

"Are you kidding me? I was lucky I got any!" Clive chuckled, falling into an armchair opposite his friend. "Yourself?"  
"Nope," he grinned, "this is the only thing keeping me awake," he lifted the cup slightly, "you might need some more bread and sugar, by the way. I took the liberty of raiding your kitchen. Comfort eating."  
"Good, you need to, you're too thin," the other laughed, throwing a cushion across the room and hitting Luke square in the stomach.  
"Piss off, you're twice my age and half my weight!"

"There's so much wrong with that I can't even begin to-"  
"Wrong with what sweetheart?" Flora had returned, drying her hair with a towel.  
Luke shook his head quickly, staring at the floor with a blush.  
"He said he wasn't scared at all by that film at all even though he was almost crying," Clive grinned, a wicked glint in his eye.

He was texting as he spoke, and it was no surprise to Luke when his phone went off two minutes later.  
_  
"Revenge. Bitch."_  
"Flora Clive swore at me!" The receiver exclaimed, eyes wide in feigned innocence.  
"What!? No way!"  
"He did!"

"Clive?"

"Nope, he's lying."  
"He called me a dog!"  
"Never said anything of the kind."  
"Floraaaaaa!"

"How old even are you? God it's like being in a house with a couple of four year olds when Luke stays over," Flora mused, rolling her eyes and throwing the towel at her boyfriend. She sauntered past them both and into the kitchen, yelling when she saw the mess the younger boy had left it in.

"Luke Triton get in here right now! Bring Clive too, I've no doubt he was also involved."  
"What!? No! For the first time ever I am one hundred percent innocent!" Clive wailed, throwing all the cushions at hand towards Luke.  
Only two of them actually it, but that was two enough for him.

"And I one hundred percent don't believe you!" Flora called back in her sing-song voice, and, grumbling all the while, the two boys followed it into the kitchen.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part deux of the double upload, stay lovely you wonderful humans! ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

"You two genuinely make me feel ill, you know that?" Luke pulled a face in mock disgust, as Flora and Clive resurfaced for air.

"You're just jealous," Clive laughed, eyes still locked with his girlfriend.  
"Am not!" He exclaimed, ignoring the _"am too..."_ ringing around his skull.

"Naw, Luke doesn't fancy me anymore do you?" Flora giggled, nestling further into Clive's shirt. She was curled up on his knee, on a chair opposite Luke's, a blanket wrapped around both of their shoulders.  
If it wasn't for Luke, and the Professor, and the other visitors they occasionally received, they just wouldn't need half of the furniture they owned.  
They shared everything- Flora would even borrow his clothes from time to time!  
They just preferred it that way, acting almost as one person, as opposed to two.

"I never fancied you to begin with," Luke grinned, deciding it was better just to work the bright crimson cheeks, instead of going shy or trying to hide them.  
"Yes you did! Remember that time-"  
"Look, Flora. You are gorgeous. If it weren't for Clive, and my stupid _thing_ with Arianna, I think we both know that I would have made some sort of effort to pull you by now."

"Hey, that's my girl you're talking about!" Clive whined with a jokey pout, subconsciously tightening his protective grip on her hand.  
"Flora's a person, not an object. Yay feminism!"  
"I'll remember that next time you tell me to get back in the kitchen, Triton," the girl laughed, throwing the first thing she could grab in his direction. Another cushion slammed into his face, earning a retaliation shot with one of Luke's socks. "Ick... How long have you worn this?"

"Only two days. I couldn't find any of Clive's to steal, so I sprayed them with deodorant and stuck them on again," he shrugged, batting the sock away as Flora launched it straight back.  
"I see you managed to find a hoodie and joggers though," Clive muttered, laughing along with the others.  
"You know one day people'll mistake you for the same person," Flora smiled, "you already look like brothers."

This was very true, Clive's portrayal of 'Future Luke' almost creepily accurate when you saw the boy today. Taller, slimmer, with the same brown hair, and the same dark eyes, the two sometimes swapped clothes entirely just to annoy Flora, who often had trouble telling them apart at distance.  
Once, Luke had even begged the usually quick to give in Clive to let things go as far as they could before she noticed, and had come extremely close to actually kissing her before the game was up.  
The real Clive had stepped in before things could get too heated, confessing everything and yet still managing to throw the blame in Luke's direction.

"Sorry," the boy grinned, "I'll give you them back, honest!"  
"Nah it's fine, I don't wear them much anyways. They suit you, even if they are way too big."  
"They're not _that_ big. Besides, I like loose things. They're comfy, and they hide my size."  
"Luke Triton you are not fat!"

"I never said I was, god overreaction much?" He muttered, rolling his eyes at the cries of his friends. He tugged at the baggy material, feigning a smile, "I'm fine. I promise. I'm okay."

* * *

***realises accidental quotey thing* *sings MCR* *cries***

**Why, why do all the good bands break up before I can see them live? ;_; **


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry if anything in this chapter/AN doesn't seem quite right, I'm catching up on Doctor Who (ALL OF THE FEELS) as I edit this, and so concentration levels are dipping. I know I could wait until later, for both of these things, but hey, I like a challenge :L  
Also experiencing some technical difficulties, I keep crashing out of the site, which is a little bit odd, but I'm mildly confident I can fix this with a bit of jiggling (the official term), and have a feeling that the whole watching Doctor Who on the same laptop thing might be the root of the problem..**

**Thank yoou Claire and Rosalia ^_^**  
**Aww Lolidge *joins group cry* ;_; at least we still have the music, right? I wish I had a hat.. :L**  
**Ahaha MrsCliveDove, I don't blame you ;) He has to be a God, it's the only explanation.  
Any review is an appreciated review Emily, no matter what length :) I'm glad you're enjoying it, and that you like new Luke :3**

**Only a single upload tonight folks, sorreh (see aforementioned issues, and add mild screen headache hehe), thank you all for reviewing, and stay awesome! ~nellen :) xx  
**

* * *

"Can I stay here tonight too?"  
"Pushing it aren't you?" Clive laughed, messing up Luke's hair with one hand and picking up the phone with the other.  
"Sure, you'll have to ring Hersh though."  
"Yeah, I might call around and pick up some clothes too. I don't really want to wear a t-shirt covered in dead people again."

"Luke. You just don't understand do you? The Ramones are without a doubt one of the best bands ever. Only some of them are dead," the older boy muttered, a slightly dangerous note to his voice. "Just cause you only listen to crap. Poisoned by the likes of Thrift Shop and Taylor Swift, how could anyone ever dream of you truly appreciating songs such as Blitzkrieg Bop and Sheena is a punk rocker? It's crazy."

"You sound like the Professor when I said the Lord of The Rings films were better than the books," Luke laughed, earning a fist bump from Clive.  
"Difference is that's true, whereas sadly the music thing isn't."

"I don't even like Taylor Swift though," he protested lightly, "asides from the whole Ramones thing we have pretty much the same taste. 'Difference is' I've seen Noah and The Whale live and you haven't."

"Bitch."  
"That's a girl dog Clive, we've been over this."

"You could have invited me though. You know it."  
"You were in jail."  
"Well you could have broken me out! It would only be a night! They wouldn't know!"  
"I wanted to kill you."  
"No excuse!"  
"Oh come on, you don't even like them _that_ much."  
"Luke, I'd go see any band live whether I liked them or not."  
"That's cause you're weird."  
"So are you, that's why we're friends."

Luke couldn't really argue with that, just grinned and nodded, "yup."

"Want this _friend_ to go to the Professor's with you so you don't look lonely and so he has an excuse to visit his girlfriend at Uni again?" Clive laughed, always eager to drop by with a gift or some flowers. He'd become pretty popular with the other girls there, sharing a smile and a "hello," and an occasionally flirty joke. Flora never worried though, Clive was just a charmer, and she knew his eyes were only for her. Just like hers were only meant for him.  
Luke was only dragged along sometimes, when he had nothing better to do.

He chatted to a lot of the girls who liked Clive, often told how much he looked like him and even earning a kiss on the cheek for being a very sweet boy on the odd day.

That had sort of been one of the factors in the downfall of Larianna, as Flora had _lovingly_ dubbed them.

Luke wasn't really a flirt, but when forced into flirty situations, would always take it in his stride with a feigned smile and confident air.

So good was his acting that he'd even fooled Arianna once or twice, usually accidentally.  
Sometimes he did it on purpose, if he thought she'd been flirting behind his back too.

It was a vicious cycle really, of jealousy and and trying to cause it. Trapping them both in a cyclone of envy, until one of them began to crack.


	13. Chapter 13

***surprise chapter***

**This is instead of tomorrow's, because there's a high chance of me being asleep (going to Scotland for the day, gotta get up at 5am to get ready for the train, whelp ;_;), so, yeah, enjoy :)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I'll cover 'em all in the next ^_^**

**~nellen (who is excited because loves Scottish accents) :3 xx**

* * *

"Bye Flora, love you!"

Luke rolled his eyes, waiting on his friend to catch up. He'd learned just to walk away, after the first few goodbyes.  
Clive would come running eventually.

"Can we finally go to the Professor's now? As was the original plan," he muttered, hearing the boy approach.  
"Yeah, sure," Clive replied, slowing down to match Luke's pace. "Hey, did you think that guy in the checky shirt was looking at Flora funny? Like... In a... Hot way?"  
"Jealous are we Dove?"  
"No," he blushed, staring down at his feet as he walked, "no, just... No..."  
"Clive, that's Jamie. He's Flora's gay friend. If he was staring at anyone in even a remotely hot way, it was probably you."

"Oh," he frowned momentarily, quickly swapping it with a smile, "that's cool."  
"You don't think it's weird?" Luke glanced up at his friend, a mixture of confusion and curiosity flashing across his face.  
"Well no, not really," Clive shrugged, "you love who you love, be they man, woman, or whatever. Providing its not illegal or anything."

"No, I meant like him probably fancying you. I've got no problem with our more fabulous friends," the younger chuckled, pushing open the gate to the Professor's house.  
"Nah, it's cool. Happens all the time."  
"Is that the standard reply when you haven't been listening to me properly?"  
"No," the older boy laughed, closing the Professor's door behind him, "I'm brilliant. Even straight men fancy me."  
"Serious answer?"  
"No."  
"Can I get a serious answer please?"  
"Believe it or not, back when I was around your age, I went through a... A bit of a phase. I never did anything about it mind, but I... It's just not weird. I've had a couple of guys come onto me in the past, you just gotta be polite and stuff."  
"How insightful. Definitely answered the original question too. The best part is I'm pretty sure Emmy may have heard the majority of that wonderful little confession, as she's just behind this door."

Clive mock-applauded Luke's ever amazing deducing skills, as the Professor's girlfriend opened the living room door, equal parts guilty looking and amused.  
"Sorry," she grinned sheepishly, cheeks flushing pink, "I didn't know if you were burglars or not, so I thought I'd just hide and listen instead of confronting. Cute confession Dove."  
"Why thank you," he chuckled, choosing just to work the embarrassment, as Luke often did, "cute blush Altava."  
He aimed a sly kick at Luke, who coughed "flirt," before speaking up himself.  
"I just came to get some clothes, can I stay at Clora's again tonight?" Flora wasn't the only one who enjoyed squashing names together, Luke had in turn renamed them 'Clora', and together they'd come up with 'Hermy'.

"Stay as long as you're welcome," Emmy beamed, ruffling the inferior assistant's hair, "keeps you out of my way."  
"You love me really Em," he smirked, hugging her quickly before running off upstairs.

"Is he... Alright?" She asked, a line of concern worming its way onto her forehead.  
"I think so," Clive's own face mirrored her concern as he spoke, all trace of laughter fading, "he keeps going on about his weight, but he's so thin! He's still in love with Ari too, but at least he's not in denial this time."  
"Keep an eye on him for me, will you? The Professor and I have been very worried about his... Mental state..."  
"He talks to himself if that's what you mean, but everyone does it sometimes."  
"No, not like that," Emmy shook her head, long chocolate hair rippling around her face. "He... He doesn't self harm, but..."

She quickly drifted off, having noticed Luke returning. Luckily, she didn't think he'd heard much of their conversation.  
"Ready," he grinned, slinging a bag over his shoulder, "did I miss much?"  
"Nah, just discussing the Professor's latest work," Emmy lied, pulling the boy in for a hug. "I've hardly seen him this week, he's always at the University."  
"Aww," Luke mumbled, hugging the woman back, "I feel bad for leaving you now, you must get lonely when you're here by yourself."

"Well, Emmy knows she's always welcome round the Dove/Reinhold household," Clive chuckled, pulling his two friends apart.  
"Yeah," she laughed, "but I'll be alright. They're showing all of the Lord of The Rings back to back tonight, and who needs sleep anyways?"  
"Isn't that like twelve hours of film?"  
"Yup. If you don't hear from me in the next couple of days, it's safe to assume I've either died of starvation or become corrupted by a piece of jewellery and am living in a cave by the river."

"Sure thing, Altava," Luke laughed, turning the handle of the door to leave, "I'll miss you."


	14. Chapter 14

**See chapter twelve's A/N. Swap Doctor Who for Spiderman. Yeah.  
Definitely not prepared for the feels, even went into Mother Mode for a little, and now I must record the entire thing and watch it again from the beginning, because that's how I roll.  
****Anyhoo, I have things to cover :D**  
**  
Thank you Claire and Emily (and have fun in Arizona Claire!) :3 x**  
**It's cool MrsCliveDove, technology hates me too haha x)**  
**Aww Lolidge, that's okay :)**  
**You know, as much as I absolutely love getting reviews (you're all so nice :3), I don't mind if sometimes you don't have anything to say or don't want to leave one :)**  
**I don't know how to say that without sounding ungrateful (I am incredibly grateful :D), but it's okay just to review occasionally if it's better for you :)**  
**I'd hate it if anyone felt they definitely had to review every single time or anything, the fact that you're reading this is really amazing anyways haha :D**

**Sorry, didn't mean to sound ungrateful or anything (trust me, I really couldn't thank you guys enough), I just had to get that off my chest :L**

**Another shortie, sorry about that too, but there are longer ones on the way ~nellen :3 xx**

* * *

The walk home was quicker than the journey there, with a little less chatter and a more direct route.

"So what did you get? There's more in that bag than just pyjamas, I can tell," Clive spoke up, breaking the slightly awkward silence as they turned the corner at the end of Harkley Lane.  
"Just some stuff," Luke shrugged, "deodorant, phone charger, that sort of thing."  
He'd decided to leave out the tablets and extra blanket he'd stuffed in the bottom. There'd be no point in telling him about them, they'd be too hard to explain. Besides, it wasn't like there was anything wrong with it. The blanket smelled of home, he'd had it since childhood, he didn't want Clive to tease him forever about it. And the tablets, they were just precautionary, and anyways, it wasn't like he took too many or anything.  
Just enough to help him sleep.

"Awesome," Clive grinned, "I don't know what we'll do though. I can't be bothered with any more horror films, sorry kid. Any more scares and my heart might stop beating for good."  
"Don't say that, Flora will cry."  
"She knows I'm kidding, 'sides, I plan on at least living to see my grandkids beat your grandkids at football."

"Good luck with that, I doubt I'll have kids at all," Luke chuckled, fading out to a sigh.  
"Aww, don't say that. Little Luke and Lucia will be fine children. Obviously nowhere near as cool as Clive jr and Flora point two, but-"  
"Hey, what makes you think Flora will agree to those names?" He laughed, opening the door to his friend's house, "or even have kids with you at all. Or say yes to the proposal."

"I haven't proposed yet, dummy," Clive blushed, gaze dropping to his feet, "a boy can dream, okay?"  
"Of course she'll say yes, _dummy_," came a meaner than intended reply, "when are you going to ask her?"  
"I don't know... It's too early, I don't want her to tie herself down so soon. I'll... If we're still..."  
"Clive Dove, you and Flora Reinhold will be together until the end of bloody time. Any idiot can see that."  
"Oh... Well..."

Clive drifted off, entirely lost in a daydream. He did want to marry Flora, he knew it. There was no life without her. Kids too, a few of them. Growing up entirely alone was not something he'd ever wish on any child, let alone his own. Boys, he'd always liked the idea of a son or two, to carry on the name, and a daughter, to spoil and dote on and to keep her brothers in check.

And although Luke would never dare to admit it, he'd always wanted a family too.  
A wife, a dog, a couple of children.

Arianna, a dog, and a couple of children.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hallo, I'm back :)  
I'm surprised I've even made it this far if I'm honest, so much procrastinating x)**

**I hope you did well at the cheer comp Claire! :D I could never be a cheerleader haha, I'm not bendy enough :L**  
**I'm glad you like reviewing Lolidge, I love to read 'em :3**  
**Aha Rosalia, it's always weird to think of people being older for me for some reason, like how eventually there'll be a load of elderly people with more modern names and stuff (and a whole new wave of kids named after book characters x3) :)**  
**Aw Emily, I didn't mean it like that haha xD I love getting reviews, makes me feel special ^_^**

**Thanks for reading guys, you're all awesome :D**  
**(another shortie, sorreh) ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

"Heeeere's Flora!"

"Cliiive knows, he heeeeard the door," Clive grinned, instantly abandoning his friend in the kitchen in favour of his girlfriend.

Luke didn't blame him, of course, but he'd definitely appreciate a warning first.

"Not to alarm anyone but dinner will burn without immediate attention," he called, half-heartedly stirring the pan with one hand and texting with the other.

"Not if I've got anything to do with it," the girl grinned, jumping down from her boyfriend's back and kissing him on the cheek.  
She skipped over to the hob, shoving Luke out of the way. "What are you even making?"

"Pasta," he shrugged, eyes never shifting from his phone.  
He could text at lightning speed, and always managed to hide the screen when somebody tried to read it.

"Come on now Triton, who're you talking to?" Clive sung, swiping at the phone and missing by inches.  
"None of your business," the boy muttered, casting him a dark look from beneath his cap.

"Oh please, is it that pretty blonde girl you waved at today?"  
"Nope."  
"The ginger one?"  
"Nope."  
"For God's sake, please tell me it's not Arianna!"  
"No..."

"Luke! She's bad news! All she does is break your heart," Flora cried, stabbing the film of the sauce a lot more forcefully than she meant to.  
"Flora's right," Clive added, "just let her go."  
"I can't though can I?" The other boy snapped, "I thought you out of everyone would understand that!"

"Sorry, sorry!" The couple yelped, "just be careful okay?"  
"I am. You never believe me."

The two exchange a doubtful look, plastering faux smiles on theirs faces and letting him get on.

_"I miss you Ari.. Xx"_  
_"Can we talk this through sometime? Xx"_  
_"Ari, please.. Just let me say I'm sorry. X"_  
_"Arianna, are you there?"  
__"Please, I love you."_

_"Please Luke, don't text anymore. Not tonight. Just give me some space."_


	16. Chapter 16

**Evenin' :)**

**There'll be a heart to heart soon, I'm near certain MrsCliveDove :3**  
**In fact I think the next couple of chapters are mostly dialogue, if I remember what I've done correctly (I write these things way in advance, I only see them again when I bring them up to edit and publish. Weird I know), so sorry if any of you don't like particularly like that, this is just more of a chatty story I guess :)**  
**Ahh Emily, thanks again for being so sweet ^_^ I've shipped Clora since the beginning (well, after messing around with OCs and.. Uh... Myself... Once or twice..) and it's always nice when other people join in :D**  
**Reviews are fabulous things, Lolidge, very fabulous indeed X3**  
**Ooh well done Claire (and your cheerleading teams), that's awesome :D I'm glad you liked the ending :3**

**Righto, I'm off, I've got homework to avoid and writing to do and Treasure Island to watch for the bazillionth time x) ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

"Aren't you having anything Luke?" Clive frowned, eyes filled with concern.

The boy hadn't touched his food at all, and had barely even glanced at it throughout the time it had sat before him.

"I'm not really hungry, sorry," Luke replied, nudging a few pieces of pasta with his fork, "I don't really feel very well."

He slid his plate away, bored of playing with it, resting a hand on his abdomen beneath the table.  
He wasn't lying this time, he genuinely did feel ill. Butterflies would hardly describe it, it was like thousands of bees buzzing around in his stomach. Wasps, hornets maybe, but not butterflies, they were much nicer than that.

"You poor thing," Flora simpered, giving Clive a warning kick to stop him from making a 'I told you not to text her' remark. He pulled a face at the girl, speaking up anyways with something less annoying.  
"Want a glass of water? There is a bug going round at the mo, maybe you've caught it or something."

Luke nodded, "I... Yeah..."  
_"God, what's wrong with me?"_  
He slowly got up, stumbling through to the sitting room and flopping down onto the sofa.

"Ugh..."

"Here," Flora whispered, offering him a hot water bottle that she'd filled in the kitchen, "hold it against your tummy, it'll stop hurting so much."

"I'm not five, stop being so patronising..." He muttered, taking it and pressing it against his skin. It burned for a few seconds, but the burning soon melted away into a warm relief. He sighed, "I'm sorry... Thanks..."

"It's okay," she smiled, taking off his cap and brushing his fringe from his eyes. "It sucks being ill, I know."  
"I don't even know what's wrong Flo," he mumbled, closing his eyes in the suddenly blinding light.

He did, of course he did.  
Well, he had an idea.

The butterfly/wasp things were down to the whole Arianna incident. He felt sick because he was hungry. He had a headache because he was tired.

There _was_ the possibility of him having caught a bug, but he was far too dramatic for that.

"Here, I got your water, and something else," Clive's voice snapped him from his train of thought, and the boy was handed a glass and a gingerbread man.

"Ginger's good for you, besides, you must be starving," the elder explained, seeing Luke's confused look.

"Oh, thanks," he forced a weak smile, nibbling the corner of the biscuit, "I'm sorry, I don't-"

"It's not your fault," Clive cut him off with a chuckle, "I don't think we'll send you home though. If it is a bug, there's no point in contaminating Emmy."  
"I've got a headache and I feel the tiniest bit sick, I've not been bitten by a zombie!"  
"Not taking risks."

"Be mature about this Dove," Flora laughed, nuzzling into his side, "I wasn't feeling too clever earlier either, might be a house epidemic."  
"Wait, you're not well?"  
"Well, I didn't say that-"

"Well that changes everything," her boyfriend frowned, feeling her forehead with the back of his hand and pulling her in closer. "I still feel fine, looks like I'm caring for you both then."  
"Clive, I'm fine."

He shook his head, "you might well be now, but I don't want you to get worse or anything. I promise, I got this. Just take it easy, 'kay?" Clive kissed the girl's head, and skipped off back to the kitchen.

"That boy is impossible sometimes," Flora giggled, gently easing Luke along the sofa and curling up beside him.  
"He just cares, that's all," the youngest smiled, "he'd do literally anything for you."

The smile dipped slightly, another pang of jealousy in his chest.

No one cared for him, not anymore. He remembered, vaguely, a night last winter. He and Ari were back on that month, sitting by the fire in the Professor's house.  
The Professor was at work again, and Emmy had been visiting a friend, and the two of them were completely alone.  
Luke hadn't been very well then either, a mild case of the flu. He thought he was fine, and knew he could soldier on by himself, but Arianna still insisted on looking after him. He still remembered the feeling of her fingers brushing through his hair, the way she'd smiled at him when he'd tried to croak "I love you."

He'd returned the favour the week after, waiting hand and foot on the girl when she caught it too.  
Always on hand for a cuddle, he'd fetch her whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, providing he wouldn't have to abandon her for extended periods of time.  
It was always more of a worry when Ari got sick, and Luke absolutely hated leaving her alone.  
When he had no other choice, he never left for very long, and always brought her a present or some flowers when he returned.

He guessed you could say he spoiled her, although he didn't really mind.


	17. Chapter 17

**Boo! :)  
This would have been uploaded sooner today, but it had reached a point where I had bored myself to the brink of insanity staring in frustration at chemistry homework and I literally had to go outside or else be locked up for eternity all wide-eyed and giggling, spouting nonsense about limestone and it's uses o.O  
Aww, thank you Emily :3 haha yeah, guys can be pretty stupid.. but I :L**

**Considering a double upload tonight but no promises, I might do one with the next chapter instead :) ~nellen xx**

* * *

"Why doesn't Luke just stay down here tonight? Come on Flora, it'd be cruel to wake him up now."  
"It'll be freezing! I don't want to wake up and have a Luke icecube on my sofa," the girl whispered, hushing the young lad back to sleep as he began to stir.  
"We won't," Clive returned her whisper, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "I'll go get him some more blankets, turn the heating up. He'll be fine."

Flora sighed, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, "you better be right."  
"Of course I am," he grinned, rubbing his nose against hers, "besides, even if the heating fails us, the monsters will keep him warm."

Even as he spoke they were already assembling, Bruno being the first to make a move. He jumped up besides the boy, curling up behind his knees. The two cats, Spring and Cogg, who were usually a lot more independent than the hound, leapt up with considerably more grace, making themselves quite at home around his shoulders.

"See? He'll be fine," the oldest kept his voice quiet, his fingers entwining with Flora's. "Are you alright, Flo? Feeling better?"  
She shrugged, "I suppose, I mean my head's still ringing but-"  
"Well if you're not okay tomorrow, just call in sick. Same goes for Luke, he's not going to school like that."  
"Clive, tomorrow's Sunday. I was only in today because I had some extra work to finish," she giggled, snuggling into his shirt.

She toyed with the material, the heat of his skin seeping through it and keeping her warm too. Clive was always warm, a 'human radiator' as Flora had nicknamed him. She barely needed a hot water bottle anymore, cuddling into the boy was enough.  
"Oh, oh well," he chuckled sleepily, kissing her on the cheek, "I'll still look after you. _I'll_ take tomorrow off, from singing."

Clive still enjoyed busking, despite now having a proper job.  
He worked for a music magazine, writing up reviews and taking notes and making cups of tea and coffee. Mostly the latter, although he rarely complained.  
Now he kept the singing for the weekends and some evenings, always welcome at the little pub where he'd first properly started out.  
He sung at home a lot too, driving Flora up the wall with the most ridiculous tunes until she either shouted at him or cracked and joined in.

Sally had offered him a slot at the weekends, when he was free from other work, but they were very flexible, and he could usually swap them or pull out if he needed to.  
And when Flora wasn't well, he really needed to.

"Whatever," Flora mumbled, too tired to argue, "I'm sure I'll be fine."  
"Hey," Clive smiled, catching her as she turned to go upstairs, "give me two seconds to switch everything off and I'll come with you."  
"Okay," she sighed, smiling too, "I'm counting."

He ran through to the kitchen, flicking all of the switches and jingling the keys in the door, then tiptoed back, grabbing Luke's phone as he did so.

"Why'd you take that?" The girl yawned, allowing herself to be scooped up and held against the boy's chest, "it's Luke's."

"Because if he wakes up again, this," he waved the phone lightly in front of her, supporting her with one arm, "will be the first thing he grabs. The rejection text from Arianna will be the first thing he sees. He's not going to get better if he keeps going through that."

"Oh," Flora mumbled, slipping down from his grasp and pulling the covers around her, "I understand now. I think. Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

"Well no, I'm not going to read them," he sighed, sliding in beside her, arms once again wrapped around her waist, "but neither is he."


	18. Chapter 18

***Note before the author's note*  
In no way at all do I want to be one of 'those people' (I can't really explain it, I just hope you understand), but my heart honestly goes out to anybody reading this from Boston or who knows someone affected by the tragedy. Just stay strong, we're all here for you, and they'll catch the people responsible, they won't rest until they do :) *hugs through internet* *apologizes for not being very good at things like this* *hugs again***

* * *

***Author's note*  
Hello, this one's incredibly short so I will be doing the double upload tonight, and both chapters are 90-95% dialogue, so, yeah.. Sorry if you don't like that kinda thing haha ^.^  
Aw Lolidge, I get all of your reviews :3 I love little villages like that, until the internet withdrawal kicks in :L  
I haven't read Sacrifice yet, but I'll have to in the near future. I've been a bit caught up in writing and homeworks and irl reading (Cloud Atlas is awesome but I'm one of the slowest readers in the world, and it's a pretty long book haha), although I still keep up with the stories on here too :D  
Thanks for your reviews, and don't worry Emily, I'll make sure to give Luke more of a break in the future haha ^_^ ~nellen xx**

**ONE SWEAR. That is all.**

* * *

"Feeling better?"

The half angry, half pained groan from beneath the thick blankets answered Flora's question almost as quickly as it was asked.  
"Poor sod," Clive chuckled, ruffling the sleepy boy's hair, "a day on the sofa sound alright to you?"  
There was a scrunchy noise as he tried to nod, another groan as his head began to pound.

"Do you think we should take him to the doctors?" The girl whispered out of earshot, perching herself on the end of the chair.  
"Nah," the older boy shook his head, "he's fine. Lovesick, if anything."

"Shut up Clive. I'm sick sick. Nothing else."  
"I know, I know, I'm just messing," he muttered, "I guess you are really ill. What's up? Where does it hurt?"  
"Fucking. Everywhere."

"No need to swear."  
"Clive, I really don't think now is the time for bickering," Flora murmured, resting a hand on his arm, "he's not well."

"I know that, I'm only joking. Seriously though Luke, where does it hurt?"  
"Mostly my head, I feel like I'm going to be sick any minute."

"Just a bug then," Clive explained matter of factly, "not feverish. Not sneezy. Just a bug."  
He smiled sympathetically, patting Luke's shoulder and taking Flora by the hand, "come along dearie, let's give the victim his space."

Despite her very best efforts, the girl couldn't help but grin, leaping up from the sofa. "Where are we going then? I still feel a bit sick too, so not too far I hope!"  
"Some fresh air, that's all," he smiled back, closing the doors behind him and handing Flora a jacket. "A walk around the block, if you will."

She cheerily obliged, following the boy right through the streets until the came to a stop on a seat near the park.

"We need to talk about Luke."


	19. Chapter 19

**Here it is, the second of tonight's chapters, and a surprisingly long one too. 'S'all dialogue though, don't know if that really counts..  
Ah well, hope you enjoy it all the same ^_^ ~nellen xx**

**Ahaha, I literally just got your other review Emily, you shall wait no more ;D x**

* * *

"So what did Emmy say, he doesn't self harm, but?"  
"She never got to finish, he came back before she could tell me. Do you think he smokes?"  
"No, otherwise you'd smell it on him. He doesn't drink either, well, not that I know of."

"Exactly. He doesn't do _anything_ that we know of. Let's be honest here, since he started high-school, how much has he told you about himself? Apart from the fact that he's in an extremely complicated relationship-ish thing with Arianna."  
"Well, um... Nothing really... We had a huge heart to heart when he first broke up with her, and we did the whole uh, 'talk' thing, but, apart from that, not much."  
"So we can't really rule out everything else, can we?"  
"I suppose not."

"So what's our next step?"  
"Huh?"  
"Well, we can't just leave it now can we? A puzzle can't just be left unsolved."  
"You sound like the Professor. But with a sexier voice."  
"Flora, darling, I love you, but pleeeease don't distract me while I'm thinking."  
"Meanie."  
"Cutie."

* * *

"Got it!"  
"Got what?" Flora muttered, slightly bored of sitting around waiting for the boy to come up with a solution.  
"We have to get him to open up. We need to ask more questions," Clive grinned, slightly manically, "genius!"  
"Yes Clive, total genius. Definitely well worth spending twenty minutes sitting on a bench while your girlfriend's freezing her tits off."  
"Sorry," he mock wailed, "I just want to sort this out. I do care about Luke too you know."

"I know," she sighed, lacing her fingers back through his and allowing the warmth to flood through her. "You care about everyone."  
"But not nearly as much as I care about you," he whispered, lips caressing hers as he slipped his coat around her shoulders.  
"So what now? We can't ask him directly, he'll smell a rat," the girl asked, considerably cheerier now that she wasn't as cold, "I suppose we could try and coax it out of him, maybe if we're really nice he'll-"  
"No, he's too used to me being a dick. If I suddenly start being all nice and cuddly he'll definitely know something's up," Clive frowned thoughtfully, resting his head in his hands. "He's more likely to talk to you than me-"

"False. You're like his brother, he worships you. Besides, he knows that what I'm told, you're told anyways. I guess we could get him drunk...?"

"No. No way. How could you even think of something like that!?" The boy alarmed even himself with the sudden aggression, and made sure to turn it down when he spoke up again.  
"Sorry, Flora, I didn't mean to startle you. It's just... He's vulnerable, getting him drunk would just be digging the knife in further, you know?"

"I suppose," she murmured, squeezing his hand, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that back up."  
"It's alright," he mustered a smile, "I just don't want him to end up like me, that's the most important thing here."  
"But you turned out fine."  
"Only because of you. Without your help I'd still be out on the streets, and don't even try to be modest, you know it's true."

"Clive," the girl whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

It was true, she knew it was. If she hadn't been so kind and given him a room to stay in, he would be asleep on a bench somewhere, or on a stranger's sofa, or in a strange girl's bed. He'd probably be inebriated too, maybe passed out would be a better word choice than asleep.

He still liked to drink on the occasion, but he was nowhere near as bad as when she'd first met him. She'd sobered him up pretty quickly, and even managed to convince him to quit smoking with a few flutters of her lashes. He'd found that pretty hard, but he struggled on, persevering until he'd reached his goal.

"We can't let him end up like I did," Clive whispered back, kissing her cheek and standing up to leave, "Luke's better than that."

* * *

**Cheesiness and awkwardness and a ton of speech marks, I know haha :L  
I've just got one or two things to point out before I retreat back into the world of internet;**

Freezing one's, uh, boobs, off, is a pretty Northern/English expression meaning being very cold. I highly doubt there'd be any confusion, but I'm not one to take chances xD

Also, spell checker says 'if you will' is extremely patronising, vague, and misleading. Maybe I just read that all wrong (in retrospect I probably have), but would you agree? I'm not changing it either way, it's too late now and I quite like the phrase, but still, I'm curious haha :)


	20. Chapter 20

**Allow me to speak to you in the voice of my people!**

**Y'areet petals?**

**I'm very sorry this is a day late, my laptop charger finally gave in yesterday ;_;**  
**But I've replaced it and it's better and more useful than ever, yaay ^.^**

**My room's just awful Lolidge, although I prefer to think of it as 'organised chaos' x)**  
**I know where everything is though, despite mam's best protests. Thankyou for enjoying my writing, I wonder if there's a rehab for story addictions.. I know I should probably visit one.. ;D**  
**Thankyou too, Emily :)**

**Well, now to watch the remainder of Britain's Got Weirdos and wait for my ice cream to defrost. Have a wonderful night, dearies :) ~nellen xx**

* * *

Luke was still curled up on the sofa by the time the couple returned, fully awake now, just reluctant to move.

"Any better?"

"I guess," he shrugged, pulling the blankets up around his neck, "I still feel pretty sick though. What about you, you alright?"  
"Yeah, I think I just needed some fresh air. Hey, maybe you could take Bruno out later, that'll sort you out," Flora smiled, kissing his head.

"Where's my phone?" The boy frowned once she'd moved away, feeling all of his pockets and the table beside him, "I swear I had it last night..."

"Here, it was beeping about the battery all night so I charged it up for you," Clive lied smoothly, chucking him the device. He'd kept his promise, he hadn't read the texts.  
He hadn't deleted them either, although he'd definitely thought about it once or twice.  
He sighed, watching the boy's face fall slightly as he read them.

"Ari wants to meet up. She says we need to talk..."

"Wait, what?" He frowned, a question echoed by Flora soon after. "When? Why?"  
Luke shrugged, "she just said whenever I was free, at the park or somewhere. I'm guessing it's to talk through this whole... Thing."

"Are you going?" Clive asked, falling into a seat opposite his friend. He didn't particularly /want/ Luke to meet her, but knew it wasn't his decision to make.  
"I'm not sure," the boy replied honestly, "I guess... I kind of want to..."

He drifted off, fiddling with the edge of his shirt. He _did_ want to meet Arianna, quite badly indeed, but he didn't want to go through yet another rejection.

"We could come with you, if-if you want," Flora offered, sliding into the space next to Clive. They subconsciously moved closer together, her hand resting on his knee, his fingertips brushing her neck as his arm snaked around her shoulders.

"No, no I have to go alone. It's a-"

"It's a man thing, right kid?" Clive winked across at Luke, who couldn't help laughing at his friend's expression.  
"Are you two flirting again?" Flora giggled, laying her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, "honestly, sometimes I really wonder about you two."

"Wonder about what Flora?" The older boy chirped innocently, as the younger laughed harder.  
"Oh come on Clive, I think it's time we were honest about our true feelings," he grinned, returning his friend's wink from before.  
"I've got no idea what you're talking about," the other drawled, "is there something you're trying to tell us?"

He waited until he thought Flora wasn't looking, mouthing 'call me' and holding his hand to his ear.  
Luke grinned again as the girl slapped his hand away, and blew the older boy a kiss as he mouthed, "I will."  
"Ugh, you're so... Weird," she mumbled, her lips brushing Clive's cheek as she snuggled into his jumper.

"Says you," he chuckled, kissing her ear and whispering, "sleep talker."  
"Gay flirt," she retorted, in an equally quiet voice.  
"Gorgeous." His lips began moving from her ear, travelling all the way across her cheek until they met the girl's own.  
"Handsome," she smiled, as the kisses grew fiercer.  
"Stunning."

Luke got up to leave.

He could still hear them as he slid down the bannister later on, giggling and whispering.  
They sometimes did that from time to time, like they'd just forget that there were people there.  
Luke sighed, making himself comfortable on the bottom step. He was used to it, of course, he just preferred not to watch.

The public displays of affection were cute at first, but to the boy they were gradually becoming a little sickening. He glanced around, desperate for a proper reason to escape.

"Hey Bruno," he grinned, seeing the labradoodle amble into the hallway, "how about that walk?"


	21. Chapter 21

**S'up? :)**

**Another super short one tonight, sorry m'dears, but also an important one. I think anyways..**

**Very precious (constantly reading that in Gollum's voice now, #nerdproblems) Emily, very precious indeed haha xD**  
**Yup haha, it's either on the floor or the chair for me Lolidge, and yay someone else who uses doo-lally :D  
I know .net exists, I think I've used it once or twice, but I just wouldn't trust my iPod to upload anything ever at all :P  
Thankyou Bry (what a cool name, is that short for Bryarly or Bryony or something?) :3 and consider that read and review thing done :D**

**Twenty chapters and more than double the reviews, gagh, THANKS GUISE ~overly excited nellen :D xx**

**Ooh, one more thing before I forget: it's safe to assume that all writing in _italics _is Luke's thoughts, unless otherwise stated, or something :)**

* * *

The park was surprisingly empty considering the time, but Luke wasn't one to complain. He preferred walking when there wasn't anyone there, there was less chance of him having to talk to people or socialize or make an idiot of himself.

He often made an idiot of himself.

Walking gave him time to think, and he sighed as he remembered the countless times he'd looked stupid in public. That time he got stuck up a tree trying to rescue a friend's cat, which somehow managed to clamber safely down by the time he was trapped in its branches.  
The time he'd tripped at the top of the stairs to the bandstand turned picnic spot, tumbling back down to the bottom and landing in a heap at Arianna's feet. He groaned internally, remembering his face turning beet red, and her cruel if slightly sexy laugh.

_Sexy? What? Luke are you for real?_  
_Well... She was kind of... Hot when she laughed like that..._  
_Ugh. You're a piece of work._  
_You're going it again you know./_  
_Doing what?_  
_Thinking in third person. Talking to yourself._  
_Oh._  
_You've come to accept it now haven't you?_  
_The voices? Nah. The probable madness? I suppose._

"Ughagh!" The boy cried as he hit the floor with a thud.

He heard a familiar, tinkling giggled, feeling familiar fingers slipping through his own.

"Thanks," he muttered, dusting himself off after being pulled to his feet. "Must have tripped over my own feet again."  
"Hm, you always were quite clumsy," the person laughed once more, a girl, now he heard her properly. "I thought I might see you, Bruno's run ahead a little but he's okay. Can we talk?"

"Uh, yeah, how do you know my, well, my friend's dog's name?" Luke frowned, rubbing weakly at the mud on his knees.  
"Well god Luke, I know we're not together anymore but I didn't realise I was so forgettable." The girl's voice was bitter now, and finally the boy knew who it was.

"A-Arianna?" He choked, almost tripping over again at the sight of his ex, "I-I didn't... I... Uh, hi..."


	22. Chapter 22

***CALLING ALL LAYTON WRITERS!***

**My good internet buddie and regular reviewer Lolidge19 is holding a Professor Layton fanfiction writing competition, open to anyone and everyone- including you!**  
**If you're interested in this kind of thing, please go visit her profile for rules and further information. I'm competing, and I'd love to see some more of you guys in there too! :D xx**

* * *

**I suck at things like that. But I wanted to do it anyways, because I think it'll be fun :)**

**Righto, on with the show!**

**It's a mostly dialogue one again haha, I hope it's as good as you hope MrsCliveDove x)**  
**Aha it's really alright, I'd have done the same if I'd gotten MM (sadly unlikely due to lack of 3DS or any DS for that matter :L) but I will definitely have to look up a cut scene to hear that voice! :D**  
**Ahh, it's short for Bryanna, that's awesome ^.^ hope you enjoy the chapter Bry! :3**  
**Ari is pretty mean isn't she Emily? Hahaha, aw thankyou, that really means a lot :3**

**DONE. Sorry it's a bit late by the way, some minor internet issues and things, I'll try and be more on time in future :L ~nellen xx**

* * *

**Swears and immaturity and oh lordy I have been editing this for almost an hour now, CURSE YOU SLOW AND TEMPERAMENTAL INTERNET!**

* * *

"Wh-what are you... How did you?"  
"I didn't," Arianna muttered, "call it good timing. Or bad, depending on how you view the situation."  
_  
Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad ba-_

"Um, good I suppose," Luke replied, glancing down at the floor. "Well, it was nice to see you, but I should probably be going, so, bye, I guess."  
He tried to walk past her, determined not to meet her gaze. He had no choice but to in the end, as he found himself caught by her arm like a fly in a web.

"Nuh-uh, we really need to talk."  
The boy winced as Arianna grabbed a hold of his hand, letting go momentarily to wipe his palm on his shirt. She led him all the way over to an empty bench, throwing him onto the wood and sitting down beside him.  
"This has to stop," the girl stated, throwing a stick for Bruno and staring intently at her ex. "I don't want you to text me anymore. I don't want you to beg or plead or pray for us to get back together, because it won't happen. It just won't."

"Wait... You wanted to meet me, out here, in the park, just to tell me that? You really are a bitch, you know that! You _ruined _my life! I can't sleep, I barely eat, I'm not well! _I _want this to stop! I'm sick of being your backup plan!"

_Yup, there it goes. Temper temper Triton, do you want her back or not?_

"Backup plan?! Ha! You're not my backup plan, I don't need one. Things are pretty solid with _Crow_ at the minute," Ari smirked, leaning back in the chair.  
"Wha- Crow?" Luke frowned, instantly looking down at the floor as his cheeks burned angry red, "oh, so... You're together now huh?"

"Yeah, it's not been very long..." The girl replied, somewhat sadder than the boy had expected. "He's... He's not like you. Even since we started going out, all he does is flirt with other girls and make me go to parties I don't want to go to."  
"Well don't go to them then, you know if you only wanted me here to gloat then fine, you're done, let me go," he muttered, completely ignoring the last thing she'd said.

_Crow. Crow! Of all the backstabbing, scrawny little di-_

"I didn't bring you here to gloat. I miss you, Luke. I want to be friends."  
"What? F-friends?" The boy snapped from his thoughts immediately, "how can we...? After everything.."  
"Look, there's a party on tomorrow. His place. Come with me?" The girl asked, flashing him one of her smiles.

_Her irresistible smiles..._

"Ugh, fine," he gave in almost instantaneously, every single urge to reject her quashed by a longing to have the girl back in his arms. "I'll go, but not for long!" He added quickly.

_Slow down, if you're too eager she'll know something's up._  
_Yeah, your-_  
_Not the time, immature joke Luke, not the time._

"Are you okay?" Arianna's voice sliced through the awkward silence, "you don't have to you know, it'd just be-"  
"No no, I mean, yeah I'm fine, and I do want to go," he replied, face growing hot again as he stumbled over his words. "I... I think I should be going now, I mean Clive and Flora will worry, and I've got to go home because there's school tomorrow-"  
"It's the holidays, dumbass," the girl mocked, shoving his arm and giggling.

Luke frowned, "no, it's-"  
"No, it's this week, remember?"  
"Oh. Oh yeah! Yes! Holidays!"

_I'm going to kill Clive. Goldfish memory._

"Good, so you're coming?" Arianna smiled again, sitting up slightly and adjusting her top,

_She really knows how to push buttons doesn't she? Try not to stare. Okay just o- no, nope, just don't. Gentleman._

"Yeah, yeah I guess I am.."  
"Crow's house, eight till late!" The girl chirped, hopping up to her feet. "You're right, you should be getting in soon. Same here."  
"Okay, well, uh, see you tomorrow I guess," Luke grinned, waving awkwardly as she walked away.

Bruno stopped running around and sat down by the boy's heel, looking up at him with a tilted head, as if to say 'that was weird.'  
"It was weird wasn't it? Oh well, looks like I'm going to a party."

The dog almost appeared to raise his eyebrows, and Luke chuckled as he spoke, "reckon your humans have stopped snogging yet? I need to remind them I'm off this week or they'll be getting Emmy to wake me up saying I'll miss the bus."

The dog rolled his eyes, there was no mistaking that gesture. Luke still chatted to him sometimes, and knew fine well of his opinions on his 'humans' and their antics.

"Oh come on, you daft mutt, you love them really," the boy grinned, ruffling the hound's fur and setting off for home.


	23. Chapter 23

**Another shortie, I think the next few probably will be, so here's a warning and an apology in advance- nellen is sorry for short upcoming chapters, also if uploads are a little slow or sudden over the weekend. Sucky internet is sucky ;_;**

* * *

**Haha thank you Emily, and aw, anytime Lolidge, anytime :) that's quite the predicament you're in though.. Maybe you should let her see them, show off your talents! :D**

**Anyone else just had a really short but super intense hailstorm? Like literal ice cubes falling from the sky? ~nellen is not a huge fan of weather :L xx**

**Also, another quick warning about this chapter; it's not dirty but there are certain things suggested that probably are, so, yeah, that's a thing..**

* * *

"Guys, false alarm, I don't have school tomorrow," Luke announced, slamming the door behind him. It wasn't necessary, but at least they'd know he was back.

"Guys?" He called again, kicking off his shoes and opening the sitting room door for Bruno.  
"Guys?"

He paused, sighing as he still received no reply.

"Clive James Dove and Flora Elizabeth Reinhold, get your arses out here this instant!"

"Well actually, I'm a girl, not a guy," Flora chirped, leaning out over the bannister. Clive's shirt was draped across her shoulders, tied in a loose knot to cover her modesty.  
"And I don't have a middle name," Clive added, snaking his arm around her shoulder and kissing his girlfriend's cheek. He was shirtless too, which didn't really surprise the younger boy, who deliberately looked away as he spoke again.

Cheeks taking on a pinkish tinge, he laughed a little awkwardly. "I know, but it's got a nice ring to it. Either way, I don't have school tomorrow. You totes lied to me babes. Not cool."

"Oh am sorry hun," Clive grinned, glad of any excuse to irritate everyone with his false Essex accent. "I totes didn't know."  
"You don't even do it right," Flora giggled, and Luke was sure he heard them kiss, before Clive continued in his regular voice. "It does have a nice ring to it doesn't it? Clive James Dove. Sounds intelligent. Sounds sexy. Anyhoo, I am sorry about not knowing the holiday timetables off by heart, but in fairness neither did Emmy."

The youngster just shrugged, "I'll tell her when I go home. I'm going to a party tomorrow night, would you, would you mind if I came back here afterwards?"  
_  
Ask while they're in a good mood._

"Sure," Flora beamed down at him, "who's party?"  
"A friend's."  
"Which friend?"

_Uh..._

"A new one, just moved from another school. They're very nice, and I mean sure I might be late coming back but I promise I'll be safe."  
"Okay."  
"So, uh, you planning to get dressed before I go up to get my things, or are you quite happy to stay like that?"

Clive murmured something to Flora that made her giggle, while Luke rolled his eyes.  
"Just come up kid, we're not naked, I promise."

He sighed, doing as he was told. He knew he should be used to this, but it still got to him sometimes.

The sickening adoration, the constant cuddles, their accidental ignorance of anyone else but each other, the shameless public displays of affection, the smiles they kept for each other, the secrets they held, and of course, the _jealousy_.

Why, just _why_ couldn't he and Arianna work like that?


	24. Chapter 24

**Call me a drama queen but we've had like two days of slight sunshine up here and my face is on fire. Literally, I am tomato red with sunburn.**

**HURRAH FOR NORTHERN SKIN! -.-**

**Anyone else been enjoying the weather recently? Tanning, freckling or burning? Jolly good fun in the English sun?**

**Neat. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend regardless :D x**

* * *

**Anyhoo, thanks to all that have left a review! :)**

**Aw, I hope you get some more soon Lolidge! Hurray for Clora too! ^.^**  
**N'aww MrsCliveDove, I'll try and give him more of a break in the future haha :P  
And thankyou Claire/Bry :3 I thought they suited them haha :D**

**Not short but not long today, also sorry it's late, I was doing some chemistry homework that's due in tomorrow. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay procrastination! ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

Almost as soon as Luke got through the door to the Professor's he had shot upstairs and begun rifling through his wardrobe.

_Agh... What am I going to wear tomorrow?_

T-shirt after t-shirt fell onto the pile, _nope, no, nah, ugh needs washed, nope, uh-uh, argh!_

"Hey Luke, whatcha doing?"

The boy glanced up from his frantic searching, face cracking into a wry grin as he caught sight of the look Emmy was giving him.  
"Looking for Narnia, you?"

The woman chuckled dryly, "ha bloody ha. I hope you're going to clear all this up mister."  
"Sure, sure," he replied, restarting his hunt for some clothes.  
"Looking for something specific?"  
"Nope."  
"What're you looking for then? Maybe I can help."

"Something to wear tomorrow," he muttered, sighing and going through the pile again.  
"Where're you going tomorrow?" Emmy smiled, taking half of the shirts from him and folding them neatly onto his bed.

"Uh..."  
"A party?"

He paused, _do I lie or...?_  
"Mmhm," he nodded, blushing slightly for no apparent reason, "I-I uh..."

"Will there be girls at the party?"  
"Uh..." He nodded again, the blush deepening as he took a seat on the bed.

"Well, let me help you find something, you'll get your girl Triton," Emmy laughed, giving him a one armed hug and pinching his glowing cheeks, "I'm guessing you're going to Clora's again then?"  
"Yeah," he nodded for the third time, "I mean I think it'll be pretty late, and I wouldn't want to wake you up or anything."  
"No no, it's cool," she smiled, "the Professor'll be back by then anyways. Just as long as your safe, eh?"

_Nonononono. I've had this talk. Shush. No. Please. No._

"U-uh, sure..." He mumbled, averting his gaze to the floor.  
"Good, make sure you've got a torch or something, or maybe Clive'll pick you up. Don't take the back streets on your way home," she smiled again, laughing internally at how uncomfortable she'd made him. They both knew exactly what the other was thinking, except one of them found it funny while the other increasingly awkward.

"Your red polo-shirt's on the radiator at the minute, that looks nice with your blue skinny whatevers. Hightops are already clean. All you need is a wash," Emmy beamed, slightly taken aback when he hugged her once again.

The boy grinned, "thanks Em, you're awesome."

"I know," the woman giggled, prising his arms from her waist, and standing up to leave again, "what d'you want for tea then?"

"Mehh, I'm not that hungry. Just a sandwich or something please," he shrugged, throwing all of the clothes back into the cupboard.

"Alrighty, sandwich it is. Make her you put those away properly," she warned, an eyebrow raised as he nodded and began chucking them a little less forcefully.  
"I'll be checking."


	25. Chapter 25

**My usual internet failed to load today, and so I'm back to using my old version of Internet Explorer.**

**OhmygodIcanteven.**

**SO MANY ADD-ONS! I DON'T EVEN NEED THESE! WHY WOULD I WANT TO LISTEN TO CALIFORNIAN RADIO? IM BRITISH!**

* * *

***sigh***

**Sorry about that, also sorry about this chapter too. It's shamefully short, I know, but as much as I want to do a double upload, I literally have one chapter until I catch up and cause complications/much much slower updates etc., so I just can't. Which sucks 'cause I'm pretty pleased with the next one, it's one of the few pieces of my writing I actually kinda like :/**

**A/N _will _be longer than the chapter this time, I'll cut back in future I promise!**

**Thankyou Bry and everyone else who reviewed, and Lolidge I know exactly what you're going through. Hotmail _forced _me to update to Outlook, and as a change-fearing individual, I was completely thrown for the first few days and I'm still no where near as comfortable as I was :L  
Ah I dunno Emily, it's been pretty nice recently haha, just like chemistry, in which me and my buddie (both royalty when it comes to chemistry-related disasters) made some of the worst quality cement in the world. Don't even ask :P  
Ooh, a new reader! :D Hello Imagine Worlds (nice name by the way :3) I'm really glad you enjoyed AIL and that you're liking this :) I hope you'll stick around! :D**

**Wew, that was a lot of words. Unlike the rest of this chapter, amirite? ;) ~terrible joke nellen is terrible :L xx**

* * *

"Ugh, it's like there was an explosion in a Lynx factory in here!" Flora laughed, pretending to cover her face with her hand as she pushed open the door to Luke's room.

It was the night of the party, and the boy was still getting ready.

_For God's sake, girls take less time than you do, Triton! _

"Shutup," he grinned, running his fingers through his hair for the tenth time that hour. "Why are you even here? I'm going in uh," he glanced at the clock, swearing under his breath, "half an hour."  
"Came to see Emmy, needed to talk about something," she replied, ignoring the boy's confused frown and continuing anyways, "'sides, thought you might need a hand. I hear there's going to be _girls_ there."

"Word spreads that fast huh?" He muttered, adjusting his collar. _Shoes. You need shoes._

He began searching for his trainers as he spoke up again, "I'm fifteen Flora, that's old enough for parties don't you think?"

"I think," she agreed, juggling his shoes in her hands. She giggled, as it took him another five minutes of searching before he noticed, growling quietly as he grabbed them.

"You will be careful won't you?" She asked, a sudden seriousness to her voice, "and not home too late."

"Sure, sure," he waved away her worry, checking his hair _again, _and praying that he wouldn't have to go through another 'talk' or anything.

"You look fine, kid," Flora smiled, leaning over to kiss his head, unwilling to have one of those conversations and relying on the fact he'd been taught it many times, "a real gentleman. Minus suit, tie, and optional top hat."

Luke grinned, feeling slightly less nervous and a little more at ease than he had all evening. "Thanks Reinhold, you're looking pretty gorgeous yourself."

The girl giggled as she turned to go, "I'd save things like that for the girl's at the party. Have fun Triton, stay safe."  
"Will do," he called after her, brushing his hair for the final time.  
He examined himself from head to toe, twisting around in front of the mirror to check every inch of his appearance.

He began to doubt if he'd ever be happy with the reflection that stared back, but decided he could settle with it again for one more night.


	26. Chapter 26

**Hallo :)**

**I lied, it's the chapter _after _this one that's I'm particularly pleased with. My bad haha :L**  
**  
Either way I hope this one's okay, I've not been to many parties (quite a quiet year group, also generally prefer wandering around outside to sitting indoors or, *shudders*, dancing..) so I just mushed a lot of memories from bad tv I watched when I was younger and hoped for the best xD**

**I'm afraid I don't really know what PJ is, Emily, unless you're referencing the youtuber of course ;)**  
**And yes, science disasters. Me and my friend paired up in physics the other day to blow up balloons with Bunsen burners, and we had to fill one with water that wasn't meant to explode, and, well, I'm sure you can see where I'm headed :P  
Ah I wouldn't worry about sounding stalkerish, Imagine Worlds, I've said some much worse things in my lifetime o_O**

**Thanks you guys, and have a nice Friday tomorrow! ~nellen :D xx**

* * *

_Should I have brought something? How many people are here? Do I look okay? Am I too casual? Too smart? Why am I so nervous? Is this even the right house? Please, let it be someone I know who opens the door..._

"Hey Luke you're finally here, come on in!"

The boy's eyes immediately snapped up from his feet, as his wrist was grabbed and he was yanked inside.

"Woah, uh, thanks, hi," he laughed somewhat nervously, beginning to take in his sudden new surroundings.

_Crow really doesn't do things by halves, does he?_

The lights were off, but everyone was home. Bright, colour-changing lanterns were strung from wall to wall, giving the room a hazy glow. Smoke spiralled from a few machines around the makeshift dance floor, plus a cigarette or two from the more rebellious boys hovering around its edge.

A horde of awkward looking gazelles, for that was the only way to describe them, teetered and tottered in heels that were just a little too big, their dresses growing shorter with every wink or flirty smile.

Luke scanned the room for the girl who'd dragged him into this, smile widening as he finally found her.

Arianna wore a dark blue dress, short and strapless, with black lace tights and a silver necklace that Luke was certain he'd bought her a few years ago.

Auburn hair was curled into elegant waves around her pale face, her cobalt eyes glittered in the flickering lights.

_She looks gorgeous..._

"Didn't think you'd show," she smiled, completely unaware of the effect she was having, "you look nice."

Ignoring his racing pulse, the boy smiled back, "as do you. Where's Crow?"

Arianna's face fell slightly, as she nodded in the direction of the girls near the floor.

There, in the centre of the group, with his arms around two tangerine stick insects, stood the host.  
He looked like the cat that had gotten the cream, but Luke couldn't help feeling like this cat had forgotten about the sundae he'd left at home.

"Oh... Are you two...?"

She nodded, then shrugged, "I think, I mean... Hey Triton, ever tried this before?"

"Uh, no..." the boy frowned, as a brightly coloured glass was thrust into his hand.

"Well, let's assume now is a good time to start, I mean everyone else is, right?" Ari smiled with a hint of craziness, waving her arms and gesturing to all the other kids with glasses or bottles.

_Huh... Maybe I should have brought something._

His frown deepened slightly, into one of concern, as Ari knocked back her own rainbow of alcohol in a few seconds flat.

"Well go on then," she encouraged, smiling even more brightly as she grabbed another glass from a passing tray.

"Arianna..." Luke murmured, "do you really think this is a good idea?"  
"Obviously, I wouldn't do it if it wasn't."  
"Arianna, please, I really think that-"  
"Shut up and drink, Triton."

The boy sighed, lifting the glass to his lips.

He paused for a moment, the scent of whatever cocktail had been produced filling his head.

_Well... I guess... Here goes..._

He closed his eyes and pinched his nose, before downing the whole thing in one.


	27. Chapter 27

**Pretty short again, also a little important, also VERY SUGGESTIVE!**

**Yes, readers, this is a WARNING! I'm not rating a whole story M just for one (or possibly two, I remain undecided on that so far) chapter (not that is an M anyways but you get me), but please, if you're easily offended, or are still pretty innocent, or whatever, please, judge your own maturity.**

**Now I'm not saying it ain't okay to giggle at a dirty joke or rude word or anything, all I mean is that if you don't like somewhat suggestive things, then this probably isn't the chapter for you. I think.**  
**Oh lordy I am not looking forward to giving my kids the talk when I'm older..**

**Wew, glad that's over. This chapter was inspired by a song by The 1975, called, well.. Sex. It's a good song, and although I haven't really stuck exactly to the lyrics or anything, I did include a couple of lines, so, if you've heard it, keep an eye out for them ;)**

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**Haha that's alright Emily, and indeed, the _wonders _of science :P**

**Thankyou Bry :) I suppose it was a bit of a cliffy haha x)**

**Well, Lolidge, Imma be totally honest with you. I have struggled. But, mere minutes after your review was posted, I was inspired. Can't explain it, but I was, I just hope it doesn't end up too long :L**

**Ahh, Rosalia-chan, it's been a while :) Thankyou for reviewing again! :D The Spanish commercial thing sounds... interesting... Hahaha :P**

**Stay beautiful you wonderful humans :3 ~nellen xx**

* * *

_So this is how it starts._

Kissing.

Luke and Arianna were kissing.

It hadn't taken very long, nor many bottles (Luke had decided that colourful fruit things weren't really for him), before the two of them grew slightly bored of the party, and began to explore the house.

Alcohol had numbed their senses, as it had done to many others. Some guests were slumped against walls, while others had slunk off to different rooms, lips locked in a drunken embrace.

Arianna and Luke were partway through the latter, by they time they'd stumbled to a bedroom.

Luke was already topless by then. The girl had complained of being cold on the way, and so naturally, _ever-the-gentleman_, the boy had removed it to wrap around her shoulders.

"You know my shirt looks so good, when it's just hanging off your back," he slurred between kisses, leaning against the wall to steady himself.

"It looks better on you," she replied, lips drifting south to his neck.

"It looks good on both of us. Ooh, a thing in common."

Arianna rolled her eyes, a slight impatience to her voice as she said, "use your hands already, it's about time. If we've got _one_ thing in common, it's this dynamite."

The boy grinned as he followed her orders, fingers running up and down her back, fumbling with the zip of her dress.

She didn't make a lot of sense when she was wasted, but she certainly had a point. Neither could ignore the spark they had, regardless of the feelings it brought along.

There was one little thing he just couldn't understand, however.

The guilt.

They were _both_ drunk, it wasn't like either of them hadn't wanted this. If anything, _she_ had come on to him, he supposed, after all, it was her who'd invited him into this.

He vaguely remembered talking about her to one of the other girls downstairs, and the strange blonde's sullen pout of "she's got a boyfriend, anyways."

He recalled the kiss they'd almost shared, before the girl in question had dragged him away, lacing her fingers through his own and kicking off her shoes as they tripped through into the hallway.

_That reminds me.._

Luke kicked off his own Hightops as he slipped under the sheets beside her, his skinny jeans soon shed and his shirt lying abandoned next to Ari's dress.

The snogging only grew fiercer as the two grew closer, each break for breath filled with a hunger for more.

Every little touch, or kiss, or whisper sending shivers down his spine, Luke couldn't fight the smirk that played on his lips as they brushed against the girl's.

_Dutch courage. The best kind of all._


	28. Chapter 28

**Pretty long chapter by my standards tonight, I only hope it's good x)**

**Chapters may start becoming a little... Delayed over the next week. I haven't struggled with it, as such, merely.. Drifted away. Not intentionally, I mean I'm not bored with it just yet, but I've had other ideas for other stories, and I accidentally let them take a bit of priority this weekend. It's like when you get an idea and you just don't want to lose it, ya know?**  
**One of them was the plan for a Doctor Who/To The Moon crossover, 'cause I watched another playthrough of it and it just gave me an idea, so, yeah, that might be a thing in the future :)**

**Also for the record, I've only ever cried at two songs in my entire life. Nick Cave's 'O Children', and 'For River' from the To The Moon soundtrack. Guess whose eyes were a little watery today.. :L**

* * *

**Also, yes. To everyone. Yes they did.  
I'm also going to make this another warning note, because LOTS OF SWEARING!  
I am sorry if my language ever offends you, but, c'mon, he's a fifteen year old boy. Name one that doesn't use a rainbow of swearwords throughout his typical day xD**

**Seriously though there is A LOT OF SWEARING! OKAY! PREPARE YOURSELVES!**

* * *

**I suppose it does sound pretty tricky Rosalia, I mean I don't even learn Spanish. I know some of the basics from Dora, but that's about it :P  
The next one is pretty much the aftermath, Bry, and it's pretty.. Graphic towards the end haha :L  
Why thank you Lolidge ;) I've read a few of those Ts-that-should-have-been-Ms fics on here haha  
I believe in your maturity, Emily, and await no more xD**

**~somewhat hyper/slightly sad/probably crazy nellen, whose spent like half an hour just editing this xD xx**

* * *

_Ugh... My... Everywhere..._

Blinding light streamed through the blinds, stirring the sickly boy from his sleep.  
Brain pounding against his skull, he crawled out from beneath heavy sheets to close them properly.  
Or he tried to at least.

An arm was wrapped tightly around his, his bare waist?!

_Shit... Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!_

_What the fuck did I do!?_

He bit back a groan and a cry of pain, peeling back a little more of the blankets.

_Holy-! I'm nake- w-wait... What? Is... Arianna... She's... We're both... Did... Did we?_

"Shit!" He cursed aloud this time, rolling out of the bed with a thud.

"Mm?"

"Shit.." the boy dropped his voice to a whisper, hurriedly grabbing his shirt and feebly pulling it around his waist as he knelt back up beside the bed.

"Shh... I'm sorry Ari... Go back to sleep..."

_Please, just stay asleep for a little longer. Give me time to escape.._

The girl almost seemed to read his mind, curling back up with a quiet yawn.

_She's just as beautiful in the mornings, isn't she? Crow doesn't really know how lucky he is._

Luke got dressed in a silent blur, retrieving various items of clothing from around the bedroom they'd holed up in. He often wondered who it actually belonged to, but then realised he just didn't care enough to ask.  
He debated leaving a note, remembering a talk he'd had with Clive not long ago.

Clive.

He'd done this so many times before, it couldn't be that hard surely. Get dressed quickly, and leave before the other woke up, probably picking up a sandwich and a coffee on the way home.

_Sounds like a plan..._

Luke decided against a letter, settling on a kiss instead.

"You're beautiful, you know?" He whispered, pressing his slightly dry lips against her forehead. "I'm sorry I have to go, I love you."

Quickly rearranging himself in the floor length mirror, he eased open the door with his toe, leaning out to check the coast was clear.

Walking was a struggle, as every tiny nerve in the boy's body screamed at him to go back to sleep. He would, eventually, _hopefully, _when he'd staggered back to Flora and Clive's.

_I was meant to be home hours ago... They'll kill me if they think I've been drinking..._

He quickly checked his pockets, suddenly realising just how light they felt.

_Phone, check. Money.. Check, ooh, a tenner, Greggs here I come. Uh... That was all, right? iPod?_

He sighed, as he opened his palm to find a knot of headphones and the device itself, lacking the willpower to untangle them and the noise tolerance to listen to anything.

His stomach somersaulted as he wandered back downstairs, gingerly stepping over passed out partygoers on his way. He ducked out of sight as he heard footsteps, fighting the urge to throw up as the pause finally provided his gut with a chance to show him how it really felt.

"Luke? Luke Triton? When did you get to the party?"

_Oh for God's sake. It's Crow. Ugh I feel so ill..._

The boy tried to shrug, biting back a gasp of agony, "I can't even remember, why?"

"No reason," Crow sneered, although Luke did notice the slight wince as he spoke.

_Seems like I'm not the only one who's feeling rough then..._

"Have you seen Arianna anywhere?"

Luke gulped, swallowing his nerves as well as a rush of vomit, "no, sorry mate. Maybe she went home early, I mean you were kind of a dickhead to her last night."

_Don't get cocky. You don't have the strength for a fight._

"Ugh, I'm sure I'll find her. I don't know if I can be bothered, jealous bitch will probably just have a go at me again. You had a lucky escape, Triton." Crow muttered nonchalantly, kicking away a sleeping kid's arm that had rolled onto his foot.

"The _luckiest_..." Luke replied scathingly as the other boy walked away. He continued on his wander, picking up his pace and practically throwing himself out of the doorway.

The fresh air and cool breeze hit him with the force of a train, and his body finally gave in, insides lurching as he wretched behind some of the bushes in the garden.

_Ew... _Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he stumbled his way back to the path.

_Maybe breakfast wouldn't be such a good idea..._


	29. Chapter 29

**So it's been all showery and breezy on and off today and now all of a sudden the sun has decided to emerge right outside my window and shine right through the space between the houses opposite mine. My eyes are burning.**

**But it's still nice because it's toasty and the clouds look all cool, so I suppose I can't really complain haha ^.^**

* * *

**I will never give up, Emily! *does some kind of Ash Ketchum fist-pump thing* Yeah I'd imagine Luke's learnt his lesson haha :P  
I was the same Rosalia, it takes a while for things to actually start getting to me. I never cried at the O Children scene in Harry Potter, but then on the night before I started high school I was bawling my eyes out haha :L  
Knowing me, Crow probably will do something stupid, and I'm looking forward to writing it ;)  
It's like they can't go a sentence without it where I'm from, Imagine, and I wouldn't worry, I've found myself yelling at fictional people quite a lot recently xD**

**Mostly Frodo, really. I mean come on, Sam is like the God of Lego LOTR, producing frying pans from his pockets and everything, and what does Frodo do? Sit in the corner and whine about the journey! I mean honestly, you just can't get the hobbits these days!**

**Hmm, I'm not sure, possibly a 12 Lolidge :P and YAY AH THAT SOUNDS SO COOL! I can't wait to read it :D**  
**I can't really think of any advice at the minute, but then I'm sure you'll do awesomely anyways! :)**

**Thanks all, goodnight lovelies! :3 *spontaneous internet group hug* ~nellen xx**

* * *

**Mildly offensive bad joke and a teensy bit of language this chapter, but not too much, I hope :L**

* * *

_Please don't kill me please don't kill me let me get in the house please don't kill m-_

"Luke Triton where the hell have you been!?"

"At a party, and yourself?"

_Seriously Luke, that probably wasn't the smartest thing you could have said._

"I swear to God, you want to shut your cocky little mouth right now! We've been waiting all night for you! We texted, I tried calling, nothing! Do you have any idea how worried we were?!" Flora yelled as the door slammed shut, startling the boy a lot more than either of them had expected her to.

"Well I-I'm-" He stuttered, tripping over his own feet in a bid to avoid a loosely aimed slap at his cheek. He knew she'd never actually hurt him, but she wasn't above dishing out a few soft slaps from time to time.

"What? You're sorry?! You didn't tell us anything! Clive stayed up because we didn't think you had a key, he's only gotten about two hours of sleep!"

"Yeah, um, Flora, darling, please, uh, bear that in mind," the boy in question yawned, rubbing his head with the palm of his hand. He wound his free arm around her shoulders, squeezing them to calm her down. He watched the young assistant through suspicious, if slightly bloodshot eyes, a gaze he never lifted even as he spoke again.  
"Look, sweetheart, I think... Let me have a word with him alone, please?"

Sighing, the girl nodded, and slipped back into the sitting room.

"Upstairs, now," Clive commanded, his voice firm enough to warn against argument, but sleepy enough to insure a lack of yelling.

Luke did as he was told, praying his head wouldn't explode. The migraine had only gotten worse since the girl's shouting, and he wasn't really sure how much more he could take.

* * *

"You've been drinking, haven't you?"

It wasn't really a question, more of a statement. A disappointed statement.

"We-well I wouldn't... Not... Yes..." Luke mumbled, feeling the colour rise to his cheeks as he curled up at the top of the bed.

Clive sighed, choosing to sit on the floor instead, resting his head in his hands.

"And did you, well, no I'm not going to ask that, you tell me. What did you do?"

"I um... I'd rather not answer that."

"What were you drinking, exactly?"

"I don't know, a lot."

"Hungover?"

The boy nodded, pulling the blankets up over his face. His insides still squirmed at the thought of everything that had, or could have happened the previous night, and his headache felt like somebody was hammering at his skull with a chisel.

"Ah, I remember my first hangover. And, well, _time_."

Clive was really trying to hide the note of nostalgia in his voice by now, suddenly reminded of the time he'd gotten wasted behind the bike shed at school with a couple of 'friends'. Come to think of it, a _lot_ of things happened behind that shed.

First kiss, first cigarette, first 'different' cigarette, last 'different' cigarette. Of course there were other things, but he tended to prefer shoving those memories to the back of his mind.

"Yeah, and if I wasn't feeling so ill I'd probably care enough to ask. Hey, uh, you're not going to tell Flora about this, are you?" Luke mumbled, rolling over to try and find a more comfortable spot.

"'Fraid I have to mate. Don't worry, I'll do it as gently as possible."

"Ugh... She's going to kill me..."

"Not if liver failure does first! Ba-dum tss- wow that was bad taste even for me. Speaking of bad tastes, you had anything to eat yet?"

"Nuh-uh. I really don't feel like it at the minute. I've already been sick once.."

_Probably not for the last time today, either..._

"Ah, I getcha. Well, if I were you, I would've told me to piss off by now and tried to get some more sleep. You do that, while I go and tell my beautiful girlfriend that there's a fifteen year old alcoholic snoozing in our spare room," Clive grinned, ruffling the youngster's hair as he stood up to leave.

Luke scowled from beneath his covers, as his friend pulled faces from the doorway.

"... Piss off."


	30. Chapter 30

**Guys. If you have an instagram, please, please go and follow MrsCliveDove! Or at least check out her drawings!  
Because my God, she is AMAZING!**

**Like seriously, that girl has talent. She also did some really cool drawings of new Luke and Arianna in her party dress, which are super worth looking at :3**

**Thank you :D x**

* * *

**Also sorry about the lateness with tonight's chapter (UK people mostly, I don't think it'll affect others that much :)), but in fairness, there almost was no chapter, so, better late than never right? :P**

**I believe I have seen the picture you're talking about Rosalia, and it was very kinda hot indeed ;) Even though I don't like it, some people just seem to suit smoking, and Clive seemed a bit like one of those people to me, but I just can't quite explain why :L**

**I don't really like parties either, Lolidge, not that I've been to that many haha :P although I do agree, I think I'd be the same as Luke too xD**

**Who doesn't love Clive, Emily? And fun in the sun indeed :D**

**Oh, and I was thinking about this earlier on, and I realised that this fic will probably be a bit longer than AIL. And by bit I mean probably quite a bit, like ten chapters or so. What would you guys think about that? Would it be too long? ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

Luke was already fast asleep by the time Flora had come up to check on him. She'd taken Clive's story a lot better than the two boys had imagined her to, but still promised a 'stern word' or two once he was feeling better.

Her fingers brushed his burning cheeks, resting there for a moment before dropping back to her side.

"I swear, if he didn't look so angelic I'd wake him up right now. Cold glass of water would do the trick," she muttered, hearing Clive re-enter the room.  
"Trust me, sweetheart," he chuckled quietly, weaving his arms around her and nuzzling sleepily into her neck. Two hours of sleep really wasn't working for him.  
"What he's going through is punishment enough."

"Huh, I suppose I'll have to believe you, won't I?"  
"You will, because I've been in his shoes several times. I still can't believe you've never had one before."

Flora smirked and shrugged, "I guess I'm just lucky. Then again, I never really drink, so there's still time yet."  
"Oh no, there won't be," the boy purred, taking her by the hand and leading her back out of Luke's room.  
"What do you mean?" The girl chirped, brows furrowing slightly, "I could sti-"  
"-You didn't let me finish. You _could_, if you wanted to, but I know you better. Besides, I probably wouldn't let you get _t__hat _wasted," he smiled to himself as they crept down the stairs. The wood had a tendency to creak loudly whenever people stood on it, so creeping was necessary to refrain from waking Luke up.  
"Why not?"  
"'Cause I'll be there. I'll keep an eye on you," he grinned, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

The grin faltered as she in turn leaned away, ducking out from his arms and turning to argue.  
"You're actually quite controlling, you know that?"  
"Wha-? Flora, I was joking!" He exclaimed, feebly grabbing at the space between them. It was a subconscious move, fuelled by a hatred of not touching.  
"Oh, yeah, always joking."  
"But... But babe, please, I-"

"For God's sake, I hate babe! I always have!"  
"I- I don't know what to... I'm sorry, sweetheart. I love you," he murmured hopefully, holding out his arms.  
"Yeah, sure."

Shattered, Clive couldn't bring himself to fight. He detested it at the best of times, but always more so when he was tired.

Something that did improve with a lack of sleep, however, was his ability to think. A few quick sums, and he was semi-sure he knew what was wrong.  
"Flora, angel, how are you feeling?"  
"Not very well."

_Thought so._

"Look, I know I get on your nerves sometimes, but it's only because I love you, I promise," he whispered, kissing her lightly on the crown. "Tell you what, I'll give you some space and do the shopping, killing two birds with one stone, that sound alright to you?"

"You don't get on my nerves," Flora sniffed, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, "you just test them from time to time."

He chuckled, "that's why men were invented, princess. I'll just go get my coat. Need anything in particular while I'm there?"

"Not really," she shrugged, "just general food and things. Some paracetamol if they've got any. And probably some more ice-cream, I'd imagine Luke's eaten us out of house and home."

"Food, things, paracetamol, ice-cream. Got it," Clive grinned, slipping on his jacket and kissing Flora goodbye. "Won't be long."


	31. Chapter 31

**Sorry guys, it's another pretty short one tonight. I'm also sorry if this seems to drag on a bit, I've just been a little bit stuck lately. I'm picking up pace again though, so hopefully there'll be some more double uploads in future again :) x**

* * *

**A paracetamol is just a painkiller, really :) I would have used a better word if I knew one xD**

* * *

**Aww, I'll mention you anytime, MrsCliveDove :3 I've shipped Clora since pretty much the beginning haha :D  
Ah, I think I did something like that once, Rosalia, except I only had one because I didn't like the taste :P  
And thank you Lolidge and Emily, your reviews always make me smile :3**

**~cheerful nellen is cheerful, and hopes you all have wonderful rest of todays and tomorrows ^.^ xx**

* * *

_Ugh, I hate shopping._

Wandering somewhat aimlessly down the aisles, Clive was desperately fighting the temptation to jump inside the trolley and ride it round the store. He remembered doing that too, when he was younger. A couple of his friends had done it with him, because doing stupid things is never quite so fun when you're alone.  
Come to think of it, he was pretty sure they'd been banned for life after that. Then again, a lifetime ban from ASDA was completely worth it at the time, not to mention the fact that it only lasted about a month.

So lost in his own thoughts was the boy, that he soon forgot where he was, not really paying attention to where he was going until he'd narrowly avoided destroying an artfully stacked display of dog food.

_Wew.. That was close.. I suppose I should probably just go and pay for this now._

A few minutes (although to a twenty six year old man it felt like years) of queuing and mindless chitchat with the checkout lady, and he was finally on his way home.

_Why do I always forget where I'm parked in these stupid things?_

The boy groaned internally, scanning the car park for Chloe. He often joked about having two women in his life, Flora, the most beautiful girl in the world, and Chloe, the most wonderful little car in the world. She was quite like the Laytonmobile in looks, except sky blue in colour, and a lot less scratched and dented.

_There she is!_

Clive forced himself to resist grinning like an idiot and running towards the car, although he walked with a slight spring in his step.

Fumbling for his car keys, he jumped as he heard a voice behind him.

"Hiya Clive."

"Huh, oh, hi Arianna," he smiled in return, finally hearing that familiar jingle of the keys in his hand. "Alright?"  
"Not really," she admitted, playing nervously with her hair. "How um... How's Luke?"

Clive shrugged, beginning to load the bags into the boot, "he's asleep at the minute. He's pretty ill but I'm sure he's fine. Oh, could you hold these a minute?"  
He handed her a bouquet of flowers, jiggling the shopping already in the car around slightly to make a safer space for them.

"They're lovely," Ari smiled, handing them back to the boy, "for Flora?"  
Clive nodded, "she wasn't feeling to well either."

There was a moment's pause, and then, "I wish Crow was as romantic as that."

"Arianna, trust me, fifteen to sixteen year old boys are _never_ very romantic.."

"I know.. But Luke was..."


	32. Chapter 32

**Eeeeeeeeeeveeeeening *gentlemanly nod, followed by sleepy wave***

How're you all this lovely is somewhat breezy day? :)

**I beg to differ, Imagine Worlds, as an avid people watcher, I love supermarket shopping haha x)**  
**Until about five minutes after I get there, then I usually end up just bored crazy..**  
**Aww, I get the feeling you might like some of this chapter then, MrsCliveDove :3 hehe ^.^**  
**If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, Rosalia, then *Simon Cowell voice* it's a no from me. Or is it? ;)**  
**I used to ride in shopping trolleys when I was little, and let me tell you it is very very fun. Also mildly dangerous, as my little brother found out. But ambulances are fun too xD**  
**(Should add that he was totally fine, just fell out trying to reach some fish from one of the shelves. I don't even know why :L)  
That's probably how I'd have reacted too, Lolidge, then again, great minds think alike ;)  
I love your reviews always, Emily :3**

**Righto, time for some sleep/more writing. Buenas noches, mis amigos :) ~nellen xx**

* * *

Right. Well. This is awkward.

"Arianna, if... If you don't mind me asking... Why _did_ you break up with Luke?" Clive muttered, after another silent pause. He was curious now, leaning against Chloe to listen.  
Arianna shrugged, "we just fought a lot."

"Care to share why?"

"Luke's very insecure, isn't he?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well... I can't just say it was him, because it was probably my fault as well. We both got jealous very quickly, I mean it was like we couldn't even talk to someone of the opposite sex without being screamed at. And then Crow came, and he was just so cool about everything, but he's too cool! He doesn't even care about anything or one other than himself!"

_This is probably one of the weirdest moments of my life._

Clive thought to himself, reaching out to hug the now crying girl. He'd never been too happy with the way she'd treated Luke, and he couldn't really say that he liked her that much, but she was clearly upset, and it wouldn't be gentlemanly to leave a young girl sobbing in a supermarket car park.

"Do you want a lift home?" He asked, in his most careful whisper.  
The girl sniffed and nodded, "thanks."  
"No problem," Clive replied, holding open the door for her. She clambered in, while he shoved the trolley back into its little shelter.  
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, as he slid back into his seat, "you must hate me after what happened between me and Luke."  
"Hate is a very strong word," he sighed, after a deliberating pause. "You're both young anyways. It's silly to think you're getting involved with things like this at your age when there are kids older than you still playing Pokémon."  
Arianna mustered a smile, although it was a lot more nervous than she'd intended.

Did he know?"

"I can't really talk though," the boy continued, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as they waited at the traffic lights, "I wasn't much of an angel myself. Point of the story is: life would be a lot better if someone could just bake a cake filled with rainbows and we could all just eat and be happy."

"Did you just almost quite Mean Girls?"  
"Probably."

"Did Flora force you to watch it?"  
"Yes."

Arianna laughed quietly, "I made Luke watch it once too. He didn't like it that much. Did you?"

"Meh," Clive smiled, "I've seen worse."  
"I think Luke said that too."

_I'm no psychologist, but she's sure talking about Luke an awful lot..._

"So um, how're things with you and Crow then, asides from, well, you know..." He asked, chancing another question.  
_  
Curiosity may well have killed the cat, but this Clive's got infinite revives. _

"Not so good," the girl mumbled, watching a few drops of rain as they spattered against the window. "I can't trust him, he can't trust me. It's the same vicious cycle, really."  
"You know, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but Luke misses you like crazy," the boy mumbled, stifling a yawn. They weren't far from Arianna's house now, so he supposed his question time was up. He was too tired to ask any more anyways, although he supposed some of this could be quite useful.

"You know, I probably shouldn't tell you this," Arianna whispered, although she wasn't sure why, "but sometimes I miss him too."


	33. Chapter 33

**Gah, sorry this is late, I had chemistry revision to do.. *shudders* When am I going to need to know the limestone cycle in real life? ;_;**

* * *

**I guess it's a little late to wish you luck now, but I hope your French thing went well Rosalia! I'll bet you did brilliantly :D  
That's basically what we did, with the shopping carts, except usually we'd climb in before it started moving xD**

**Mind if I join you in your arm waving, Lolidge? *does anyways* :P**

**Guest I thought you were Emily at first, but then it turns out you're not, so hello :D It's nice to sort of meet you haha, and thankyou for reviewing! :)**

**Ahh sorry about that Emily :P Basically my little brother fell out of a shopping trolley/cart and had to go to hospital. It's all good though, he was fine x)**

**Sorry if anything seems not right about this chapter or anything, I'm going to school in, uh, fifteen minutes, but I wanted to get this chapter up sooner rather than even later.. ~nellen, who's having too much fun lip syncing to Fall Out Boy songs to finish getting ready for school :L xx**

* * *

"So, run this by me one more time. Arianna still loves Luke?"

"Theoretically, yes. Although the word she used was 'misses'," Clive sighed, tired of explaining it again and again. He'd reported all the things the girl had told him to Flora almost immediately after getting home, although he was slowly beginning to regret it.

"Same difference. But only sometimes? How can you miss someone 'sometimes'?" She frowned, filling a vase up with water.

"I'm not sure, I'm not a fourteen year old girl," the boy muttered, jumping up to sit on the bench and dangling his beneath him.

"I keep telling you not to do that," Flora replied, raising her eyebrows at his sleepy grin, "and Arianna's fifteen, not fourteen. She's only two months younger than Luke."  
"But Luke's only just turned fifteen..."

"No, he's about three months away from turning sixteen."

"What? Really? God, it feels like only yesterday he was a little squirt, asking for help with puzzles and how to tie his shoes and stuff."

"You're not old enough to start getting all sentimental on me, Dove," the girl laughed quietly, turning to search for some scissors, "if this is what you're like when you're twenty six, what'll you be like when you're triple that?"

"I will be an awesome seventy eight year old, thank you very much," he chuckled, kissing her head as she sauntered past. "Look, we're straying from the point here. Do we or do we not tell Luke?" He asked, leaning cautiously forward to check the kid in question wasn't lurking in the doorway listening in.

He was, the couple just hadn't noticed him yet.

Luke slid down against the wall, hot tears welling in his eyes. He'd heard enough from his place outside the kitchen, more than enough in fact.

_What... Arianna... Still likes me? But what about... Then again, last nigh- no! No! You can't, you shouldn't think like that! It's wrong. It's over. Remember?_

"I vote no. He's got enough going on as it is, without her complicating things further," Flora muttered, entirely unaware of the boy weeping silently in the hallway. "Besides, I'm sure he'll find out in his own time."

"Agreed," Clive nodded, biting his inner lip, "it's probably for the best."

Luke screwed up his eyes as tight as he could, desperate to stop crying before anyone could see him.  
Crawling into his favourite hiding place, the cupboard beneath the stairs, he curled up into a ball as his heart thudded out of time.

He remembered when they were younger, when love was still yucky, and all cheating meant was watching through your fingers when you were playing hide and seek.

He remembered how they'd convinced themselves that, if they concentrated hard enough, they could read each other's minds, and how they'd spent hours and hours trying to perfect it, until eventually they'd had to accept that it just probably wasn't possible. But hey, it was certainly worth a shot.

_Can you hear me, Arianna? Can you still read my mind, like when we were little?_

_I miss you too, Ari. I miss you all the time._


	34. Chapter 34

**Sorry about the lateness again ;_;  
****I was at a friend's house last night (birthday sleepover that accidentally became a bit of a Eurovision party. Malta should have won! Even though Denmark were pretty awesome), and I've also been stuck with a little bit of writer's block the past couple of days..  
It's because of that, that I've decided to keep with the new schedule (chapters every couple of days as opposed to one every other night) for a little while, just until I get back on track. Because it's about quality, not quantity, right?**

***facepalms because unintentionally quoted CO-OP adverts* *also for not having as quality writing as she wishes she did* *and having terrible grammar when it comes to these***

**Water rhymes with daughter, Lolidge :) and I've always had that problem with oranges. Why does nothing rhyme with oranges?!**  
**I guess 'dosages' kinda rhymes with 'sausages', but whether that's useful or not I do not know xD**

**Thank you Imagine Worlds and Emily! And I'm sure your presentation was wonderful, Rosalia :) It is pretty weird thinking about Clive as an old man haha, and don't worry, whilst not in the hole, Layton will make an appearance again soon ^.^**

**~nellen, who's sure she has some homework to do but just can't quite be bothered to look at it yet :L xx**

**Also: HOLY WOW 100 REVIEWS THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! :D X**

* * *

"Luke? Luke where are you?"

"Wha? Huh?" Rubbing tired eyes, the boy yawned and stretched his arms. He tried to sit up, biting back a flurry of swear words as his head collided with a shelf.

_Ugh, I must have fallen asleep... Suppose I should go and announce myself alive and well before Flora calls the police._

He sat up again, a lot more carefully this time, feeling around in the darkness for the door.

"Luke Triton, reporting for duty," he called, chuckling to himself as the couple jumped in harmonious fear.

"Where even have you been?" The girl mused, brows raised in a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Does that really matter?" Clive chimed in, a slight knowing smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, "we've found him, haven't we? All present and correct, and whatnot."

Luke nodded, silently thanking Clive for not grassing him up. Then again, it _had_ been his hiding place first, so he was probably saving himself some explaining too.

"Ah well, I suppose that's true," Flora smiled, completely unaware of the entire exchange, "would you like something to eat, sweetheart? You should be alright to try something now."

The younger boy shrugged, "I suppose, I am kind of hungry..."

The girl smiled and skipped off to make dinner, while Clive beckoned Luke to the sitting room.

"How much did you hear?"

"What?" Luke frowned at his friend's question, deciding it better to feign innocence for as long as possible.  
"You've been crying."  
"How can you tell?"  
"Eyes are red- and no, you can't blame this on the hangover, because there are tear stains on your cheek."  
"How do you know I haven't just yawned? People cry when they yawn all the time."

It was pointless, he knew, but it could buy him some time.

"You're not tired enough to yawn, you've literally just slept."

"Care to expand on that theory?"

Clive sighed, bored of the game. "You were in the cupboard, that's where you go to cry. You go to the cupboard because you're embarrassed to cry in public, which, let's be honest, is a pretty fair reason because who enjoys crying in public? It's unmanly and attracts unwanted attention. You made a fair point though, I _didn't_ know that you were sleeping. It's an educated guess. Usually, when you hide away somewhere, it's only for a few minutes, maybe twenty max. Today, you were gone for almost two hours, ergo, using that, and the fact that you've got a handprint on your face from where you've rested on it, I've deduced that you were asleep. I also know that for some weird little reason, you often fall asleep after you've cried, therefore I assume that you must have heard something, because why else would you be crying?"

"... You really need to cut down on the Sherlock watching."

"For god's sake, Triton, I am way too tired for this! Just tell me what you heard, please!" The eldest yelled hoarsely, quickly hushing himself in case he alerted Flora to the boy's knowledge of their chat.

"I don't know what you're talking abou-" Luke stopped himself mid-lie, silenced by a threatening growl from the opposite chair, "okay fine. I heard everything."

Clive raised one eyebrow, "everything isn't a very detailed answer..."

Luke closed his eyes, now a little bored of the discussion himself.

"I told you, I heard _everything._ Every single word."


	35. Chapter 35

***yawns* Hello, I'm pretty tired tonight, for no apparent reason, so please excuse any spelling errors or bad uses of grammar you may experience today, although I've proofread this a few times now so I hope it's alright :P**

**Aw, I'm sure Luke would like some company, Emily :L Did you have fun on your residential? :)**

**And that's cool TAFW, and pretty smart :) My family and most of my friends don't even know I write haha, but an anonymous account is a good idea. **  
**I'd like to hazard a guess as to who you actually are, but I'll respect your anonymity and keep it a secret :L**

**That's all for tonight folks, have a lovely end of the week and remember to keep on reading and reviewing! :D ~nellen xx**

* * *

A week had past since the boy's accidental discovery, and it was still eating away at his heart.

Clive had explained the entire conversation in the end, deciding it better just to clarify what was said and what it had meant than to leave his friend guessing on his own.

It didn't really matter to Luke though, the two things were similar enough.

The holidays were over now, though, and that meant a return to school. Something the boy was dreading immensely from the moment he woke up.

_Oh God how am I going to cope... I sit next to Ari in chemistry and we have chemistry first lesson. Ugh. What other lessons do I have today? Is it even worth going in?_

Eventually, after what felt like hours of deliberation, but only spanned couple of minutes, he decided he probably should go to school, _although if it wasn't for engineering and the possibility of Arianna being ill, I'd definitely wouldn't bother._

"Luke, you awake yet?"  
"Mmhm.."  
"You decent?"  
"Mmhm.."

Emmy's head ducked in through the doorframe, "oh my, you haven't even started getting ready yet! You'll be late!"  
The boy made a sleepy groaning noise, pulling the covers up over his face. Being back at school also meant being back at the Professor's, although that he didn't really mind as much.

"Luuke, you really should get up soon if you want a shower, otherwise the water will run cold."  
"Five more minutes, _please!_"

"Nope," the woman replied curtly, chocolate curls bouncing as she shook her head, "up. Now. And thank the lack of Flora that you weren't dragged from your bed with ice cubes down your top."

"Fair point..." Luke muttered, finally mustering the willpower to drag himself out of bed.

"Good boy. Oh, want an egg for breakfast? I was going to do a couple for me and Hersh, you too if you like," Emmy smiled, following the boy out of his room.  
"Yeah, please," he grinned sleepily, hovering outside the bathroom door. "Oh, uh, Emmy..."  
"Yes?"

"Will I need to take a key with me today?"

It wasn't necessarily the question he wanted to ask, but he knew it would provide the same answer.

"Oh, probably," she nodded, turning to head down the stairs, "now be quick you, you've got ten minutes for a wash at most!"

_Probably. That means they're probably going out. Which means that, under certain circumstances, I will probably be able to skive off. Probably._

Emmy was right, the water was running a little cold by the time Luke had stepped into it's path.  
Droplets clung to his hair and skin, dribbling down his neck and pooling at his feet.

He'd always preferred baths, really, but a shower would do for a busy school morning. Mentally running through a checklist in his mind, he crossed of the things he had or hadn't done.

_Wake up, check. Wash, in progress. That just leaves breakfast, dressing, books and bus._

Turning off the shower, he shook his head, sending water flying everywhere and soaking the entire room.  
"Whoops," he chuckled, drawing a face on the fogged up mirror. "Sorry Emmy..."

* * *

Stumbling down the stairs with his pants halfway up his legs and his shirt still unbuttoned, Luke grinned again as the smell of breakfast wafted his way. The ruffling of papers alerted him to the Professor's presence, and the boy was greeted by a chuckle of "good morning," as he tripped his way into the room.

"Morning Professor," he smiled, straightening himself out and adjusting his tie, "anything exciting planned for today?"

"Not really," the man shrugged tiredly, glancing back down at his papers, "just some paperwork and a few lectures. Oh, and I'll be late home again tonight, I've a meeting with a colleague that could end up dragging on for hours."

"And I'm visiting an old friend after work, so you'll be home alone for a while, think you can cope with that?" Emmy chirped, setting his breakfast on the table and taking a sip of her coffee.

"More than likely," Luke replied with a smile, "I mean, I manage it most of the time."


	36. Chapter 36

**Hallo :)**

**I still haven't seen Dumb and Dumber, TAFW, but I keep meaning too :P I will soon. Soon.**  
**I have seen the video for the PewdieCry fanfic, Rosalia, and it almost had me in tears xD**  
**Thankyou Imagine Worlds, and aww Emily, residentials are always muddy haha :D**  
**I spy with my little eye, something beginning with new reader! Hello juanitaylor, sorry I haven't quite gotten round to PMing you yet, but I will!**  
**Thank you very much for your reviews on my stuff, and for being very nice in them! :D**

**~nellen, who apologizes in advance if anything seems a bit rushed, she's somewhat sleepy again after using the first sunny day of the half term to it's full potential, and hopes that you all have lovely half term holidays too, presuming you have them :3 Even if you don't, I still hope you have a lovely time no matter what you're doing ^.^ xx**

* * *

_Maybe she is ill... Well I suppose today won't be too unbearable then. I do hope she's okay though, I still worry about her someti- oh no.._

Luke tried his best not to wince as Arianna sat down beside him, drumming his fingers absent-mindedly on the desk.  
She wasn't ill, it would seem, or at least not ill enough to stop her from joining him in a marvellously unexciting chemistry lesson.

"Morning," the boy muttered, making a slight effort to be polite, "have a nice holiday?"  
"I suppose," she replied, leafing through her book to find her homework, a task she never glanced up from.

_Crap! Ah well, I'm pretty sure I know the periodic table off by heart anyways.._

Luke sighed, as she made an obvious effort to avoid touching his hand and she leant over the table to hand it in. "Look, about-"  
"Just shut up please I don't want to talk about it!" Ari yelped suddenly, tears glistening in her sapphire eyes.

"Woah, okay, sorry..." He mumbled, a slight frown of concern settling on his lips, "are... Are you feeling alright?"  
"Well no not really," she answered curtly, quickly wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

The boy's frown deepened, and he had to restrain himself from reaching out and hugging her close. He bit his lip as he scrawled the date in the top of his book, thinking of something to say. "Would... Would you like to talk about it?"

"Well I'm not feeling very well today and I wish I hadn't come to school and I'm sick of everyone asking questions and I don't want to learn about whatever the hell this is and Crow left me and I don't understand any of this and I don't know what to say and I'm worried about school and I think Crow might have cheated on me and-"

"Miss, I'm not feeling too good, and neither's Arianna, may we please be excused? I think there might be a bug going round," Luke called out suddenly, feigning a coughing fit and nodding for the girl to leap up and follow him.

The two were practically out of the school by the time Ms Furle, an old teacher in her late hundreds of rumours were to be believed, could stutter out a reply.  
"Oh, okay, just, just make sure you-"

"What are you doing? Are you mad!?" Ari hissed, running after him down the corridors. She tripped over her own feet as they skidded to a halt, blushing furiously as she found herself grabbing onto her ex for support.

"More than likely, now, you got everything?" He grinned, panting slightly from the sprint. He'd freed himself from lessons before, and spent countless hours strolling pointlessly down the hallways instead of learning about Pythagoras, but he'd never done something quite like this.

"Apart from my chemistry book, yes. Tell me your plan first though, I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on."

"You're not well, and whether we're together or not I still care a hell of a lot about you, so let's just go. The Professor's house will be empty, I've got a key. Besides, I... I really want to talk to you, properly, and I don't think hushed whispers in a classroom full of kids is really the place for that," Luke explained, surprising even himself with his sudden confidence. He really didn't have the slightest idea what he was doing, he just felt like it was right.

There was something wrong with Arianna and he really did still care about her, and he really did want to talk. And he only hoped that she did too.

"Fine then, let's go, you're right, we have to talk," she muttered, successfully masking the tiny note of awe that was trying to slip into her voice.

He was actually helping her, he was actually looking out for her. He still cared about her.

"Good, well, reckon you could feign illness again to get us past the office bimbos?" He smiled, leaning against some of the lockers.  
The frown of concern was back seconds later, however, as Ari's face paled slightly, and a hand rushed to her mouth.

"Ugh, I-I don't think I'll have to fake it..." she mumbled, finally giving in and ducking inside the girl's toilets.

"Huh, maybe there actually is a bug going round," Luke mused, as she reemerged a minute later, paler and iller looking than before. "Think you can manage the walk back to mine?"  
"I... Yeah. Just.. Yeah.."  
"Good, now come on. A quick word with Shelley and we're good to go," he smiled briskly, gently easing his fingers through hers.

"Why are you doing this? This isn't like you at all..." Arianna whispered, as they crept past the Headteacher's office.  
"I know, but, well, that's just it. This isn't really my style, usually, but, I just had an idea. Besides, you look like you could use a rest, and I could use an extra day of revision, and we could both use a proper chat. I think. Haven't I already answered that question?"  
"Um, no, you answered how you were doing it.. And the plan.. And we do need... Yeah... Yeah we could use a chat..." She murmured, drifting off towards the end. Her fingers were still entwined with his, and she wasn't all too willing to let go.

_I really hope she's okay, she doesn't look well.. She can barely string a sentence together.. Wait, how clean is my room? Maybe she just needs a lie down.._

Luke was right, a quick word with Shelley was all took. He wasn't entirely sure she'd heard him properly, too busy filing her nails to listen, but a nod of "awright, I'll let your teachers know," was completely enough to satisfy him.

Besides, the boy didn't really want to wait around and get caught out by another, more responsible member of staff.

He just wanted to go home, and look after Arianna, and try to figure out what was wrong.


	37. Chapter 37

**Lip syncing and typing at the same time is definitely not my forte..**

***finally stops singing along to Disney songs after several failed multitasking attempts***

**Hi :3**

**Hahaha, it's the same here, Imagine Worlds, well, most of the time anyhoo. They're pretty soft on some days, letting kid's go home with a cold and all sorts :L**

**Thankyou Lolidge *blinks a bit because she finds winking impossible" ;) and Happy Half Term to you too, Emily! :D**

**I believe that's everything covered. Oh, wait, there's a couple of swearwords in here. I guess I should mention that :L**

**~nellen, who won't say she's in love with that one song from Hercules. No chance, no way, she won't say it, oh no!**

***dances of into the distance with her choir of singing statues trailing behind***

**xx**

* * *

"So... Crow just.. He just left you? For.. Her?"

Luke's eyes were wide, as he sipped his hot chocolate and listened intently to the girl stretched out on his sofa.

"Mmhm," Arianna nodded, wiping her red eyes with her sleeve. She'd explained everything to him almost as soon as they got through the door, after changing out of her blazer and shirt (Luke had leant her an old jumper of his, which she wore over the top of her school tights).  
The boy had made sure she was okay, before making himself comfortable on the floor by the fire.

They sat and made small talk not long after that, and it was almost as though they hadn't just run away from a chemistry lesson. They asked about relatives and friends and how they'd all been, and talked about the weather and school and things they'd watched on tv, until eventually, curiosity got the better of Luke, and he just had to ask.

"When.. When we were talking at school, you, uh, you said Crow had... What happened?"

"He cheated on me, that's what happened," the girl muttered, voice suddenly growing as cold as the wind they were talking about not even minutes earlier.  
"Oh... B-but you said.."

"I haven't finished yet," she mumbled, fiddling with a strand of hair. "He'd been cheating the entire time, the whole fucking relationship. With Chantelle. _Chantelle! _And Chelsea! _Two of them!_ I wouldn't have known if I hasn't caught the latter and him in a, shall we say, compromising position. We fought really bad that night, a... A lot of name calling and accusations. But you know what? I was stilling willing to try. We both calmed down, and we talked it through, and I confessed... Well, I, I told him about... And apparently that was just too much. I could forgive him for not one, but two slags, but he couldn't let go of one drunken mistake-"

Her friend on the floor winced slightly at the remark, but let her continue all the same.

"And he dumped me!" She sobbed, although she wasn't really quite sure when she'd started crying in the first place. "Called me some more names, then rang Chelsea up right in front of me and told he'd 'finally done it' and that they 'could finally be together in public."

"Well that's.. That's awful.. What a dickhead..." Luke frowned, reaching up to brush a hair from her face. "I should have known he would do something like that."  
"Wh-what?"  
"Well, even when we were friends, he was 'that guy'. Broke Jessica Cullot's heart in year four when he kissed Lauren Whatshername on the cheek."

"Oh I remember her, well, them! Where did they go in the end? They never came to our middle school did they?" Arianna asked, almost forgetting about the original conversation. It was weird how quickly she perked up again, considering she was so upset earlier, and Luke was curious about how she'd done it.  
However, he decided it was better just to continue with the new topic, instead of setting her off again.

"They went to York didn't they? Oh, no, Jessica did. Her mum got a teaching job or something. Lauren's family moved to... Didn't they go to Sweden?"  
"No... That was Patrick's wasn't it? Patrick... Patrick Fitzpatrick! You know! The one with the weird name?"

"Oh yeah! Ah, Patrick," Luke grinned, as the memories came flooding back. "Remember that time one of the other kids hid his shoes, and he was over the moon 'cause he could walk around in his socks all day?"  
"Yes! Oh I loved Patrick! I wonder how he's doing now," the girl smiled, staring up at the ceiling. "Reckon he's passed his GCSEs yet?"  
"Didn't he have redo one of his SATs papers in year two?" The boy laughed, rolling over to jab the fire with a poker, "he left all the answers completely blank, but drew giraffes on the pages he deemed appropriate."  
"Poor kid," Arianna sighed, turning over to watch Luke jab the fire some more. "His comics were always really good, too. Hey, maybe that's why he was so bad at tests. Maybe he just decided to ditch common knowledge in exchange for artistic talent. Kinda like how Crow decided to ditch me for Chelsea..."

_Damn, I thought we were making progress.._

"B-but, but he doesn't have a clue what he's doing half the time! I mean come on, he left you for Chels. That's like selling your Audi and buying a Corsa." He butted in quickly, nearly facepalming at his chosen metaphor.  
_  
Of all the bloody comparisons to make.._

"I'm an Audi? What's an Audi? I bet it's the shittiest car in the world, right?" The girl sniffed, pulling her blankets up to cover her face.  
"No, it's an awesome car. Trust me, one of the best in the world. It's also a terrible metaphor, so how about this one instead? Leaving you, for Chelsea 'I'm wearing shorts I promise' Pence, would be like leaving Lana Del Rey for Taylor Swift," Luke explained, seemingly digging a bigger, more confusing hole than before.  
"But Taylor Swift's so good looking!"

"Not really. Besides, she's gone out with more guys this year than I've had hot dinners. Whereas Lana, well, she's not 'good looking'. She's absolutely, totally one hundred percent gorgeous. She's unique, she's wonderful. She's-"

"Nothing like me then," Arianna mumbled, a mascara stained tear trickling down her cheek.

"Well, I suppose you're right," the boy replied with a shrug, sitting up beside the sofa.

_Time to stop pretending. Just tell her the truth._

"You're nothing like her at all. You're not gorgeous. You're _more_ than gorgeous. You, Arianna, you are the most beautiful girl in the world."


	38. Chapter 38

***internalized squee***

**Guess who just found a cover of her all time favourite song by one of her favourite bands? This gal.**

**:D**

**The competition entry is up and ready, Lolidge ;) *prays she spell checked it enough***

**Cake always, Rosalia, cake always. Hahaha, I hope you remember your password too :) we're studying Romeo and Juliet sometime this year I think as well, but I've only read the kid's version so far :L**

**Secretly I don't think I've seen Hercules all the way through before, Emily, but I do love that song :3**

**I also may or may not have an alternative version of the meeting Mark chapter saved in my notes involving aforementioned song..**

**Wait what who said that? o.O**

***coughs*itssadbecauseitstrue*coughs***

**Sigh, sometimes I wonder if I'm the Queen of Cringealot..**

**Keep reading and reviewing, folks!**

**~nellen xD xx**

* * *

**Also, to anyone wondering, although I doubt that you are, the song mentioned in this particular chapter would probably be Otis Redding's version of "For your precious love" :3  
I was listening to it at the time of writing :L x**

**~nellen again x**

* * *

"Wh- what?"  
"You're beautiful."

Arianna's cheeks glowed pink, as she gazed down at the floor. "Oh, thanks Luke... I.. I don't know what.."

"Hey, why don't we see what's on the radio? There's nothing on tv this time in the morning, but I bet there'll be some good music on if we find the right thing," Luke smiled, changing the subject to make things less awkward for the girl.

_There. I said it. We don't need to talk about it anymore._

"That sounds like fun," she nodded, returning his smile. The boy disappeared for a few moments, returning with the Professor's old wireless.

It still worked, better than most of the modern ones in shops today, and, after a bit of fiddling from Clive, could pick up the same stations as any other radio could.

Luke twisted some of the dials, and pressed a few of the buttons, until eventually a song began to play. His smile widened, as the first few notes of an old favourite of theirs rang out around the room.

There was a pause, while they let the moment sink in, until eventually, silently and without warning, the boy stood up and took Ari's hands in his own.

Pulling her up from the chair and dragging her gently to the middle of the floor, his arms instinctively wrapped around her waist, and her head rested lightly against his chest.

"Do you remember this?" He whispered, "at my cousin's wedding. It was the-"  
"-The first time we'd danced together. Right at the very start of our relationship. And all the adults were a little bit drunk, and in truth everybody was dancing, but it felt like it was just us," the girl finished, draping her arms around his neck. Luke nodded, and they swayed carefully, silently, in time with the music.

The song was coming to an end as they finally broke apart, gazing into each other's eyes like the love-struck teens they were.

Slowly, Luke leant forward, and Arianna closed her eyes once more. He hesitated for a moment, biting his lip to stop thousands of uncertainties from pouring out.

Uncertainties that soon melted away, as her lips bridged the gap between them.

"I love you," he murmured between kisses, "I always have. Even when I said I didn't. Even when we were fighting. I've always loved you."  
"I love you too, Triton," she mumbled, pulling the boy in closer. "E-even... Crow.. He was a distraction. I had to prove to myself I could live without you, b-but I can't! I couldn't! I... It's just-"

"It's just us. This is us, isn't it? The fights, the split ups, the jealousy, the kisses, the next times, the try agains. It's just what we do."  
"How we roll."  
"That's my girl."

We... It doesn't have to _always _be that way though, does it?" Arianna asked timidly, staring down at both of their feet. She stopped herself from laughing at Luke's superman socks, his favourite ever present that she'd bought him a few Christmases ago.

_Surely he should have thrown them out by now.._

"I... I mean why don't we try _again_? Properly this time.." She continued, gazing back up into his eyes.  
Luke bit his lip, "I... You mean?"  
"I think so."

"Well if we're doing this, then you're right, we're doing this properly," he smiled, breaking away from their embrace.  
"What are yo- Luke?" The girl frowned, as he dropped down to his knees.

Producing a bag of Haribos from his pocket, the boy took her hand in his once more.

"Arianna Barde," he grinned, sliding a jelly ring on to her finger, "will you be my girlfriend again, again?"


	39. Chapter 39

**Hello :)**

**I'm not having a great time with technology today (lost about 3 hours worth of writing, may or may not have accidentally spammed someone, you get the drift), so sorry if I haven't quite edited this right :L**

**Well, I know better than to interrupt a flailing fangirl, so I guess I'll leave you be, MrsCliveDove xD**

**Thanks Imagine Worlds! :)**

**I, uh, I.. I haven't actually seen The Emperor's New Groove, Emily D: I do like Kuzco though, I've seen a few clips of him ^.^ I want a Luke too.**

**Aww, thanks TAFW :3 That works indeed. :)**

***Quick Lulu impression* Weeeeeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeee-eeeeeellllllllllllllllll ll *hopes you know who Lulu is*, I suppose I should be heading off soon, another early school morning is on the horizon, not to mention that biology homework I've been putting off for a while..**

**Nanight everybody, and remember, keep reading and reviewing! ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

Luke and Arianna were happy.

They'd been happy for almost a week now, much to the annoyance of Crow. They didn't let him get to them this time, though, too caught up in their own feelings to care.

It was all going so well between them that the two actually thought that maybe this time, this time they could work.

Until late that one Saturday morning, when everything began to change..

Arianna had never been properly right since the Chemistry lesson escapade. It wasn't anything serious, it was "probably just a tummy bug," according to the girl, although Luke still couldn't help worrying a little whenever she complained of a headache or felt a bit sick.

She'd still made it to school every day, however, to see the boy if anything. They spent all the time they could together, whether that meant holding hands beneath the desk, or sneaking in kisses between lessons.  
He'd even walk her to and from her classes, always willing to make sure she was okay. Which she was, for the most part.

"Arianna, sweetheart, are you alright?" Luke called, sitting down on the floor outside the bathroom.  
She'd slept over at the Professor's the previous night, as the boy was home alone again.

"I-I think..." she mumbled, pushing the door open with a creak.  
"Oh God... You look... Come here darling, I've got you," he whispered, crawling over to the teary-eyed girl in the doorway and wrapping his arms around her.

"Luke..." she whimpered, burying her face in his shirt, "I-I don't think it's a- Ugh!"

The boy's eyes widened in alarm, as she leapt up again, pushing him out-of-the-way and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Ari, love, can I come in?" He asked tenderly, finally coming back to his senses and knocking quietly on the door. He waited a minute before entering, instantly dropping back to his knees beside the shivering girl.  
"You poor thing," he murmured, grabbing her a glass of water and rubbing her shoulders as she retched a few more times.

_She's really not right... Maybe I should take her to the doctor's or something..._

"I don't think it's just a bug," Arianna finally stammered out as she finished, wiping her mouth on her hand.

Luke helped her to her feet, perching carefully on the edge of the bath while she got on with brushing her teeth.

"What... What do you think it is then?" He asked casually, glancing down at the floor. He had an idea, but.. Well, it was just an idea.

"I'm not, I don't, I don't know!" She yelped, tears now streaming down her pale cheeks.

"Oh, oh no, shh Arianna, shh. It's alright, come on," the boy murmured, taking her hand and gently leading her out of the room.

_Oh God. What would Clive do? He's good with things like this. Just... Just try to calm her down.. It's probably just girly problems or something.._

"Here," he whispered, carefully lifting her on to the bed. He slipped in beside her, pulling the covers up around them both. "Now, do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"Luke... How long ago was it?"  
"Was what, dear?"  
"Crow's party."  
"Uh... About two weeks ago, why?"  
"Oh..."

There was a pause, and then; "I think I need... I'm going down to the shops, I'll be back soon."

"Ari, wait, give me two minutes to get changed, I'm coming with you," Luke muttered, rolling out of the bed and searching for his jeans.  
"No! Uh, I mean, no, I'll be okay. Trust me, I'll be fine, only five minutes," the girl flashed him a quick, mildly reassuring smile, throwing on a coat and pulling on her boots.

The boy sighed, "you promise?"  
"I promise."  
"Are you sure?"  
"I'm sure."  
"I'd really prefer it if I went with you. I do worry a lot, you know," he frowned, pulling her in for a hug.  
"I know you do, sweetie, but, I just.. I'm fine, I promise, this is just precautionary anyways. Look, why don't you get breakfast started, and I'll be back before you've finished, I promise. Wait, what time do the Professor and Emmy get back again?"

"They don't," he replied, following her down the stairs, "well not today at least. Em texted while you were asleep, they're having to stay there a little while longer. The original train back was delayed, and then Doctor Manslo asked them to take a look at one of the other cases he's been investigating."

"Sounds fun," Arianna smiled, kissing her boyfriend quickly on the cheek. "Right, well I won't be long. I promise."  
"You've got your phone haven't you?" Luke asked from the front door, smiling slightly when she nodded. "Good, well ring me if there're any problems. I love you."

"I love you too."


	40. Chapter 40

**So most of you seem to have guessed what's coming, or not coming, or possibly coming, or possibly not coming..**

**Yeah that's right nellen, you keep 'em guessing.**

**Spoilers, Someone, spoilers ;) Clive's just worried, it's like in his mind he's not good enough for her, even though he is. Don't worry, I don't think you're mean :)**

**I love Kuzco too, Emily, whether I've seen his film or not :D**

**Ouch, hope you're alright Rosalia! And good luck with those finals! And I thought you might know it haha x)**

**I could be just trying to scare you, Imagine Worlds.. Could be.. :P**

**Indeed I did, Lolidge, indeed I did. And hooray for being a Danosaur! :D Sorry you're tired though xD**

**Waterloo Road is calling me (my hatred of Steve O knows no bounds, although strangely enough Barry is growing on me), so I probably should dash. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Or not ;)**

***moderately evil laughter***

**No but seriously I hope this is okay.. ~nellen ^.^ xx**

* * *

The door clicked shut.

"Arianna?" Luke called from the kitchen, turning off the gas. He pushed the pan to the back of the hob, making sure not to burn anything in the process.  
"Arianna is that you darling?"

"Mmhm..." The girl mumbled, kicking of her shoes. The boy rushed to her side, taking her coat and hanging it up on the rack.

"Are you alright?" He frowned, feeling her forehead with the back of his hand.

"I think... Luke I need to talk to you, now," Ari muttered, taking his hand and leading him into the living room.  
"Ari, what's-"

"Sit down," she commanded, curling up beside him as he did as he was told.  
"O-okay..."

"Luke, do you remember Crow's party?"  
"Yeah..."

_Shit I think I know where this is going.._

"Were... Were we careful?"

The boy choked on thin air.

"B.. Because I don't think we were..." Arianna continued, in a nervous mumble, her eyes brimming with tears. "And I.. I can't ignore the... Signs..."

"Did you, um, did you buy a.." Luke trailed off, as the girl nodded, "well... Well have you.."

"Not yet..." The girl sniffed, pulling a box from her pocket. "The woman, in, in the chemist, she- she said this was one of the better ones.."  
She handed the box to Luke, who weighed it up in his hands.

Arianna watched his face closely, for any sign of emotion, but instead found it blank and expressionless.

"Well... What are we waiting for?" He sighed, finally breaking the silence between them.

They stumbled up the stairs, supporting each other the entire way, in case one of them broke down and fell.

It wasn't like neither of them felt like it.

Luke waited outside, sinking back down to the floor outside the bathroom with his head in his hands, and his heart in his mouth.

_Please.. Just let this be a scare.. Just let Ari be okay.._

"Well?" The boy murmured, glancing up as the door cracked open.

"It takes a few minutes," Ari whispered, cheeks damp with tears.

Luke sighed again as he slowly stood up, never talking, just holding her close as they waited for those 'few minutes' to drag by.

After what felt like hours, the three minutes were eventually up.

Again, the boy waited outside, while his girlfriend collected the test. After another minute or so, she returned, ghostly pale, with a little white stick in her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she glanced up at Luke, who instantly stepped forward to wipe away her tears.

"Positive," she whispered, barely a squeak in the silent hallway as she shakily stammered out her final line, "you're.. You're going to be a dad.."


	41. Chapter 41

**DANOSAURS, UNITE!**

**You all listening tonight? I know I am ;D**

**I knew that you'd know it, Imagine Worlds, and I knew it too. Knowception O_o**

**Thankyouthankyouthankyou MrsCliveDove! You have no idea how much that means :3 I'm lucky to have reviewers like you lot, you're all lovely! *breaks down in feels*  
Also, here is your lifeline! Sure hope it works! x)**

**Ah that's awesome Rosalia, well done! :D the new Animal Crossing does look amazing, enjoy your summer break! ^.^**

**Someone, if there's one anonymous reviewer I think should get an account, it's you xD I don't think I'll be able to reply to the whole thing without making it another chapter, sorry, so I'll try and do it in brief:**  
**I have played Pandora's Box, I almost cried at the end. I think Anton was his chosen nickname, wasn't it? Maybe the townspeople didn't really respect him because of the whole vampire shebang, either that or reason number 4.. I think a lot of people have played Pandora's, it's just a little less talked about than UF. MrsCliveDove has an amazing fanfic called Iris about it :) I struggled with a couple of the mysteries, but I suppose when I think about it they should have been pretty clear :L**  
**Don't worry, I ramble too, and no, I don't think I would stay at some random 50-year-old supposed vampire's house, no matter how hot he was :P**

**Indeed I am Emily, indeed I am. You too? :D**

**Well, ciao for now *cannot believe she just said that*, and stay groovy! ~nellen :3 xx**

* * *

No..._ What... No..._

Luke's head was spinning, his heart pounding violently against his ribs.

_No, it- she can't be.. No! No no no!_

He dragged his fingers through his hair, crying out in frustration.

"No!"

Hot tears welled in the young boy's eyes, "you're, you're sure about this? It couldn't have been a faulty test? You're.. You're actually.. P-pregnant?"

The girl nodded, completely unable to talk, or even cry for that matter.

"B-but we... God the first fucking time and I screw it up like this!" Luke yelled, lashing out at the wall. His hand began to smart, as it was greeted by solid brick, but he was too upset to care.

One thing he did care about, however, was Arianna.

"No, oh no sweetheart, darling I'm sorry," he murmured, trying to take his mind off the pain in his hand as he quickly took hold of hers. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kicked off like that, please don't cry."

"It-it's not like that!" She wailed, burying her face in his shirt, "I-I'd be cross too. I-I just can't belie- we're- I'm only fifteen!"

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, kissing her gently on the forehead. "This is all my fault.."

"N-no it's not!" Ari sobbed, "I- if I hadn't invited y-you to that-"  
"No, Arianna. This is my fault. At-at least I think so, you... You didn't.."  
"Crow was too busy with his other girls to even think about it with me.."

"Oh.. Well... May-maybe we should take this.. Let's go back to the sitting room, talk this through." Luke's voice wavered dangerously, another few tears rolling down his cheek.

The girl nodded again, clinging tightly to her boyfriend to avoid collapsing in a hysterical heap. She didn't want this, not at all in the slightest.

Anything but this.

"Arianna, love.. What are we going to do?"

"I-I don't know.." she whimpered, curling up on the boy's lap. "I... I'm not sure what I... Do you want to keep it?"

_Do you, Luke? Do you want this?_

"I... I don't... It's your... Kinda..."

_What?_

"What?" The girl frowned, watching his face for any sign of a cruel joke.

_What?_

"Well... I... I'm really scared, and really angry, but-but at the same time I know we can do this! Come on, Ari, after all we've been through. Wha-whatever you choose, I'll stick by you, but... But.."

"But I can't de... We need to think this through.. I.. I'm only two weeks, there's still a little bit of time," Arianna whispered, snuggling closer into his chest with a yawn, "I-I'm tired.. I'm scared, I'm cold, I'm _pregnant_, and I'm tired."

"Well sleep then," Luke muttered, slightly more aggressively than he'd intended. "Sorry, I mean-"

"It's alright."  
"Good... Maybe.. Maybe you should try and get some sleep, though. I mean, I'm no doctor or anything, but, agh I dunno, maybe.. Just.. This'll be a lot easier tomorrow, when we've had time to think about it-"

_-I hope-_

"-and, well, you know, it's been a.. A busy day.. Look, why don't we both try and get some rest? Come on, sweetheart, I'll take you."

Sliding his arms beneath her body, he held the girl close to his chest, carrying her out of the room and back up to his with surprising ease considering his size.

"Stay with me," Arianna commanded sleepily, grabbing hold of his shirt as he lowered her gently onto the mattress.  
"Ari, it's a single bed, honestly, I don't mind the armchair," he replied, catching hold of her hands and kissing them both.

"No," she growled, yanking his arms so he tumbled in beside her. "Stay with me."

"O-oh, okay," he laughed nervously, "l-like this?"  
"What, do you want to get changed or something?"  
"N-no I mean.. You know what, never mind," he smiled, lips brushing her cheek, "goodnight Ari."

"Goodnight Luke."

_Goodnight baby.._ The boy added silently, feeling a lump rise in his throat.


	42. Chapter 42

**Okay, so before I even begin replying to things, I just want to, well, kind of warn you about this chapter.  
I was (and still am) really uncertain about posting this, 'cause it's not exactly.. Nice, at times.  
So, that's.. That's the warning, I think. Yeah. The main point is that it's a description of Luke's nightmare, and not real, and probably not my best piece of writing, so, sorry about that too..**

**Well, uh, on with the show I guess ^_^'**

* * *

**That's a very fair point Emily, but Dan's hotter ;) Haha :3**

**I think everyone will be a little bit shocked, Imagine Worlds x)**

**Ahh, I'm so jealous Rosalia ;o; I get summer break some time in July I think :D *doesn't know the holiday schedule very well at all***

**Thanks juanitaylor :), and no, Flora's not. I did think about it though, but it just seemed a little much :L**

**Well, that's that :) Hope this chapter's alright.. ~nellen ^.^ xx**

* * *

"Arianna, no!"

"Huh.. L-Luke? What's wrong?" The girl in question mumbled, eyes still half closed in sleep,

The boy jumped straight up, almost cracking his head off the shelf that he always forgot about.

"Arianna! You're okay! Oh thank god! I love you I love you I love you!"

"Wh.. What are you? Luke? Luke calm down," Ari muttered, now also fully awake and trying not to giggle as she pushed him away. "Get off me, no more kisses until you explain."

Luke glanced up from her hand, which his lips were pressed tightly against.

"Had a bad dream," he replied, as though that was completely enough.  
"Care to share with the rest of the class?"  
"Not really, no."  
"Care to share with a curious girl who cares an awful lot about you and is also a little bit nosey?"

The boy chuckled, kissing her lightly on the cheek, "you really won't take no for an answer, will you?"

"Nope," she grinned, "now spill the beans."  
"Oh, you know what, I've forgotten it now. Shame really, I was going t-"  
"I know when you're lying, oh go on, I promise, I won't laugh."

_Too right you wouldn't.._

"No really, it.. It was nothing. Just, just a weird flashbacky thing. Future London, plus you, minus Clive. Big out of control robot hand almost crushed you, and I, uh, well I'm not sure what happens yet, I woke up before I could check you were okay," Luke lied again, insides clenching horribly as he tried to forget the real dream.

In truth, he'd had the dream he'd described so often it had become almost routine-like to the boy, and he'd stopped waking up screaming after the first three times.

But this nightmare had been something different entirely.

Arianna was in labour, and she was early. Really early. She'd woken up in a lot of pain a whole three months before her due date, much to the couple's alarm.

The doctors were worried, the midwives were worried, but none were more worried than Luke.  
He'd stayed by her side the entire time, clutching her hand and begging her not to let go.  
Her condition deteriorated, and they were severed apart, as a doctor ordered the boy out of the room.

After what felt like hours of painful waiting, a grave faced doctor appeared by his side.  
"I.. I hate to be the one to.. Your girlfriend has miscarried, she lost _both_ of the babies. The.. They were.. Twin sons.."  
Luke's heart froze, "b-but Arianna? Can I see her?" Tears began streaming down his cheeks, "you have to let me see her!"  
"She's lost a lot of blood. The doctors are trying their hardest. We... I'll come and get you if things improve."

But they never did. Nothing improved, nobody came.

It was only the faint, continuous beep of a heart monitor, that alerted him of her demise.

The boy's breath was still shaky, as he leaned over to kiss Arianna again. "D-don't ever let me lose you, ever, okay?"

"I won't, I promise," she whispered in return, squeezing his hand and cuddling closer into his side.

"You'll never lose me. Not in a million years."


	43. Chapter 43

**Gah, you have no idea how relieving your reviews were, thanks guys :)  
I'm genuinely a bit of a paranoid person, so I was worried about that last update, but, yeah, thanks ^.^**

**Fun indeed, Imagine Worlds, fun indeed x)**

**It's still the night after, Juanitaylor, sorry for not being clearer :) I try to not jump around too much with stories, 'cause it confuses me just as much as everyone else xD**

**Ah, hello again Bry, I missed you ^.^ Thanks for your lovely review! :D**

**I won't let this happen Emily, that I can promise!**

**I don't think anybody ever wants that to happen, Rosalia, or that Luke will tell her about it.. Thanks for the review! :)**

**Hope you all have nice weekends! LOL in the old-timey lovey-dovey sense, ~nellen :3 xx**

***PSHE day is like citizenship day or something, I don't know what other people call it***

* * *

Arianna wasn't sick that morning, much to the young couple's surprise, although she did whine an awful lot.

"I'm huungryy, when's breakfast?"  
"My stomach hurts."  
"I'm so hungry."  
"Are you nearly done yet?"  
"Luuuke, I'm staaaarving!"  
"My boobs hurt."  
"Luke please are you nearly finished cooking? I am _famished!_"

"I know, I know sweetheart, just hang on," the boy sighed, a weak smile worming its way onto his lips. "It's nearly ready, I promise."  
"Good, because I am very very hungry."

"You've said, dear," he chuckled wearily, kissing her on the crown and setting a plate down before her. "You are allowed to eat that, right?"

"What do yo- oh.. Oh, I think so. Yeah, I remember now, we learnt about it on PSHE day. Speaking of which," the girl began, taking a large bite from her sandwich, "what are we going to do about, uh, _it?_"  
"Well, what are our options?" Luke frowned, pulling out a chair for himself. "I mean, there's abortion, adoption-"  
"-Keeping it," she interjected, tearing off another bite.

The boy almost choked, "w-what?" He spluttered, "I-I mean really?"

"Well, it's an option, I mean I don't know," Ari shrugged, "I.. I suppose we should talk to someone about this, shouldn't we?"  
"But who? I.. I mean the Professor would kill me... I guess there's that drop in thing the school runs.."  
"No way. If there's one thing we don't want, it's this becoming common knowledge among teachers and gossip amongst kids. How.. How would Clive and Flora react?"

"Uh.." Luke faltered, as he considered the option carefully. "Flora would be.. Cross, but she'd get over it. Clive probably a little shocked, but otherwise indifferent. Hell, he might even make a joke of it."  
"So.." The girl began, "so if we're going to tell anyone, it's probably going to be them.."

The boy nodded, "I suppose, I mean they'd know what to do and everything. There's a clinic not far from here too, I remember walking Bruno past it once. We could always.. If we weren't sure.."  
"We could talk things through there, maybe get the proper help. Be-because if we, if I, keep it, him or her, well, we'll need to.. You know," Arianna waved her hand, finishing her breakfast as an excuse to avoid finishing her sentence.

"I... Maybe I should talk to Clive and Flora first, I mean they should be fine, well, understanding at least, but Flora's a little... Well... The word 'temperamental' is tossed around a lot these days, and.." the boy trailed off, drawing a finger across his throat. "But once she calms down she'll be fine. Either way, I'd rather it was me that bared the brunt of her... Her.."

Ari nodded, "I understand. B-but will they keep it a secret? I mean.. We don't really have to tell the Professor straight away, do we?"

"No, no you're right, we don't. S-speaking of which, what did you do with the um, with th-"

"It's in the bin. Don't panic, the binmen come around this morning, it'll be long gone before they get back."

"Why on earth do you know my bin schedule but I don't?"  
"Why on earth don't you know your bin schedule but I do?"

"... Touché.. So, I'll tell Clive and Flora, but not the Professor and Emmy. Are you telling anyone?" Luke asked, kissing her lightly on the head as he sauntered past to tidy up.

"No... Let's try to keep this properly secret. Nobody knows unless they absolutely have to. Don't even tell a friend," Ari replied, standing up to help him. She stumbled slightly, grabbing the chair for support.

"Agreed," the boy nodded, catching her by the waist and pulling her in for a hug.

"Our little secret."


	44. Chapter 44

**Hallo :)**

**Thanks for the reviews Emily and Bry (I read your fic, sorry I never got round to leaving a review but it was really good! :D) ^.^**

**That's all for tonight, hope you enjoy the chapter, and remember, keep reading and reviewing! :3 ~nellen xx**

* * *

H-how am I going to tell them? Do I rush it? Do I ease it into conversation somehow? Do I get them drunk? Ugh, I guess I'll just have to go for it..

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Clive yelled, pausing his game to answer the door.  
_  
_"Flora's probably forgotten her key again," he chuckled, sliding his own into the lock.

His smile faltered, as it was the face of a rather scared looking Luke that greeted him from the doorstep, as opposed to a slightly irritated Flora.

"C-can I talk to you, p-please?" He stammered, shivering slightly as he scratched the back of his neck. He forced a smile, twitchy and nervous.

_Come on, it's just a few words. Around three, to be exact._

"Of course," the older boy replied, beckoning him inside. "Afraid you'll have to wait if you want to see Flora though, she's gone shopping with a friend."

"N-no, that's fine, you'll... You'll do."

_Clive's less likely to kill you. Maybe he'll even understand._

"Triton, seriously, what's wrong? You're a bundle of nerves, and I'm sure whatever it is, it's fi-"

"Ari's pregnant!" The boy squeaked, clapping a hand over his lips. He rushed to explain himself, as his friend tried to comprehend exactly what had just been yelled at him,

"It-it was an accident and we're only fifteen and I know you're really cross but please we don't know what to do and I'm really scared and-" He broke off, too overcome with emotion to continue. He was still pretty tired, and terrified, and definitely not prepared for this.

"... Oh.." Clive quickly closed his mouth, which had been hanging open in shock. "Oh."

"What? That's it? Fucking _oh_?! Do you not see the gravity of this situation?!" Luke yelled, quickly falling silent as he was equally startled by his sudden, if somewhat stupid, outburst.

"Language, Triton. Just be glad I haven't murdered you. Pregnant? Are you serious? This isn't some kind of sick prank?" Clive muttered, biting back a ferocious torrent of anger.  
_  
No. No. That would be too far, even for Luke. Just calm him down. He'll talk on his own._

"Yes! Yes I'm serious! I-we didn't think, okay!? We were drunk, we slept together, and, well, now this! Please, just help!"

The youngest began to cry, burying himself in the arms of his older friend.

"You're too young for this," Clive sighed, giving in and hugging the boy back. "Just calm down, little brother, it'll be okay. Come on, just take a few big breaths. Have a seat. I'll get you a drink."

He disappeared for a moment, returning with a glass of water and a blanket for the boy.

He waited quietly until the snivelling stopped, before piping up again. "So, Arianna's pregnant. How far along is she?"

"Two weeks."

"It's definitely yours?"

"Most probably."

"Most probably?"

"Okay definitely."

"Keeping it?"

"Don't know, that's what we need help with."

"Well do you want to keep it?"

"I... I.."

"Does she want to keep it?"

"I don't know?"

"Haven't you discussed this between yourselves?"

"Slightly.."

"Well look, what's Ari doing now?" Clive sighed again, rubbing the side of his head.

_Ugh, I can feel another migraine coming on.._

"Um.. Nothing probably," Luke sniffed, "why?"

"Give her a ring, invite her round, talk this through properly. Don't worry about Flora- yeah, I can tell- I'll let her know later. She might be able to help Ari anyways.."  
The oldest boy shrugged as he passed over the phone, "we uh, we had a scare a while back. It was a false alarm, but y'know.. We learned some stuff.."

"What kinda stuff?" Luke fought of a smirk as he pressed in the number, _this really isn't the time for jokes._

"Stuff stuff. Like, options and doctors and stuff."

"Oh," he replied, just before the phone was picked up. "Hello? Arianna? Yeah, it's me. Hey, so I uh, I did the thing. Better than you'd expect really. Nah, she's not in yet. Mmhm, so uh, listen why don't you come round to their's tonight? To talk things through better. Want me to come and get you, so you're not walking alone? Just it'll be getting a bit dark soon, I don't want you getting hurt.."

He trailed off, handing over the phone as Clive rolled his eyes and mouthed, "let me talk."

"Hello?" The older boy's voice sounded funny to Luke, as though he was just as scared as everyone else. "Hi, Ari, it's Clive here. Look, Luke's right about it getting late, and you two have school in the morning, so why don't you bring your stuff around here too? You can stay the night if it's easier, and I could come and pick you up. That sound okay? Okay, I'll be ten minutes. Make that fifteen. Alright. Well, see you later!" He hung up the phone.

He mustered a grin as Luke cocked his head, "you mumble too much. Whereas I, Clive Dove, am a master at getting stuff done."

And with that, he restarted his video game, quite cheerily finishing his quest to save the civilians from impending doom with seconds to spare, as though it was just a regular Sunday.

As though his fifteen year old friend hadn't just announced his girlfriend's pregnancy, and he wasn't scared out of his wits.


	45. Chapter 45

**This would have been up a bit sooner but I got a little, uh, distracted xD and I also accidentally closed the tab and had to do it all again..  
**

**I guess that's Clive for you, Imagine Worlds :)**

**He did take it awfully well, didn't he Rosalia? and I'm not saying anything yet :3 I think I just made the game up, although Skyrim springs to mind for some reason :L and wow, your brother's a lucky guy haha x)**

**Thanks for the lovely review Juanitaylor! :3 Yeahh, I was a bit worried about that actually, this isn't _too _slow, is it? A lot of my writing takes a while to kick in, but this one seems to go on forever :L**

**Well, time to start taking a look at all the homework that was rather rudely sprung upon my class today.. Hope you lot have a much more wonderful weekend! ~nellen :D xx**

* * *

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Switch off? I mean, that... You know, it was a pretty big bombshell, and you still managed to complete that game like nothing had happened," Luke mumbled, slamming the car door shut.

"I guess I'm lucky, in a way," Clive shrugged, turning the keys in the ignition. "Wait, no, not lucky, terrible word choice. More... More different, than lucky."

"How so?"

"I don't think I've told you about Doctor Bradshaw, have I?"

"Nope."

"Then that's a story too long for this car journey. Speaking of long stories, any idea how you're going to tell the Professor about this? Or indeed, /your mother/?"

._.. CRAP!_

"We're not, and neither are you. _Please_, Clive, promise me you and Flora won't tell anybody! Not yet, okay? Just let us make a decision first.." Luke wailed frantically, running a hand through his hair.

"I won't, I'll ask Flora not to as well. Just.. Just promise you will tell them, once the initial mess is sorted out. You can't go keeping secrets like this, trust me. Besides, this is _P__rofessor Layton_ we're talking about. Fuck, he probably knew about it before you did. And I might not have had my mum for very long, but there is nothing on earth quite like a mother's intuition," his friend stated knowingly, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. "I swear, people are getting slower every d-"

"Mum couldn't know, she's still in Misthallery. And the Professor, he won't know unless we give him clues. So.. We just have to find a way to avoid sharing them. Don't mention anything even vaguely hintyish."

"Cannot fault your English, Triton. Not at all."

"Oh shut up!"

"Rude. Want a hand helping Ari with her bag?" Clive muttered, as they came to a stop outside her house.

"Nah, I'll manage. Thanks, for uh, taking this all so well," Luke smiled briefly, jumping out of the car. Arianna was already at the door, looking "lovely as always," as the boy instantly told her.

"Thanks," she giggled, handing him her things. "Hello Clive."

"'S'up?"

"Clive I thought we agreed that does not suit you at all. A posh young man of your calibre shouldn't greet women with 's'up'," Luke laughed, clambering back into the car after the girl.

"I'm not that posh!" The oldest protested, as the engine purred back to life.

"You're the typical posh boy trying to be not posh by being rock and roll though."

"... What?"

"Like, uh.. Like Joe Strummer. He was dead posh, but by smoking and drinking and forming the Clash, he seemingly erased his grammar school image," Arianna interjected, earning a laugh from Luke and a shrug from Clive.

"I'd be mad at you if I wasn't so impressed that you knew who Joe Strummer was," he chuckled. "Sorry Triton, Barde's my favourite kid in the car right now."

"She's my favourite too," Luke grinned, kissing her lightly on the cheek.


	46. Chapter 46

**Pretty sure my iPod has some kind of weirdly personal vendetta against me. Just lost another two hours' worth of writing.**

***angered whale noises***

**Also having a ridiculous amount of trouble with my internet recently, so if the chapter after this one seems a bit delayed (heaven forbid, 'cause this one's quite the.. Ah.. Look, whatever happens, I'm sorry for being a bad person :P) then I can only apologise on my sucky internet's behalf :L**

**Ah well, glad I didn't lose this chapter at least ^.^}**

**Aha MrsCliveDove haha, he's trying his hardest to not be xD**

**It was no bother at all Bry, thanks for the review! :)**

**Indeed, Rosalia, indeed. I'm not really sure where I get it from to be honest, it comes and goes :L I get writer's block all the time, I just try and soldier on, then fix what I can when it comes to uploading time. Music sometimes helps too haha :)**

**Thank you very much Juanitaylor, and you shall wait no longer!**

**Ah Emily haha x)**

**That's okay Lolidge, I missed you haha, thanks for the nice review! ^.^**

***sighs because this like her fifth attempt at doing this and she's slowly descending into insanity although things seem to be going smoothly this time so hopefully this will work okay***

**Well, goodnight folks! ~nellen :D xx**

* * *

"I, uh, I'm assuming you two don't have a problem sharing a bed then.."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm sorting the spare room again, and I'm wondering if you, well, y'know, want the mattress on the floor, or a couple extra pillows," Clive could feel his cheeks growing pink as he hovered in the doorway. He didn't mind Luke and Ari together, but he couldn't help feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable when it was just him and them.

_Then again, I guess Luke must feel the same way when it's just me and Flora around.._

"Oh, I'll sort that out," Luke smiled, glancing up from his chat with Arianna. "Thanks."

"So, um, have you two, well..."

"Not sure, we're thinking about it," the girl mumbled, her smile a lot more nervous than the boy's.

"Well... Well I guess... Oh I don't know," the eldest muttered, "you two want anything? Something to drink, eat, whatever?"

"Um, no I'm alright thanks. Do you want anything sweetheart?" Luke linked his fingers through Ari's, giving her hand a squeeze.

"I wouldn't mind a glass of water.."

"What was that, sorry? You can speak up you know," Clive softened his voice, as he asked her again. "No need to be so shy."

"Just, um, just water please," she repeated, slightly louder this time. "Ow... My head..."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a headache," she replied, cuddling further into Luke.

"Maybe after some water you should try and get some sleep. I'll not be long going myself either," he whispered, rubbing her shoulder with the palm of his hand. "We can always talk about this some other time."

"No, no," she mumbled, yawning quietly. "We should get this out the way. Well, not, oh, y'know.."

"I know," he nodded, kissing her cheek and brushing a hair from her face. "Flora won't be that long anyways."

"I can't promise she'll be sober though," Clive added, handing the girl her drink and flopping into the armchair beside them.  
"Actually, she might be. Not much of a drinker, thank God. Or I guess she could surprise us, I don't know. She's full of surprises."

"She's not knocked up too is she?"

"Luke!" Ari scolded, gently smacking his arm.

"It's alright," Clive chuckled, playing with a loose thread in his top. "No, she's not. We were thinking about it, but there's a lot going on, and it... In the future, maybe. Yes, even. But not, not now. She finishes Uni in a year or so, so I guess..."

"Why don't you adopt it!? Him, or her?" Luke exclaimed suddenly, consumed by what he thought was a brilliant idea. "I-if you and Flora aren't.. Aren't ready for... Well, to actually have you're own, then, you could look after ours! And then me and Ari could still see it, and you and Flora could-"

"It's not the time to actually have a baby, it's the time spent looking after one, that's why we're putting it off. Look, I really, really think you should think this through extremely carefully, before any rash decisions are made. This is a really huge choice you have to make, you can't just fire off random suggestions and hope for the best," the older boy replied calmly, keeping his voice firm to avoid either giving in or sounding too harsh.

"Clive's right," Arianna piped up, after a few moments' silence. "This is going to affect the rest of our lives.."

"What do you want to do, honestly?" Her boyfriend mumbled, "I- I mean.."

"On three. Okay? Clive can count down from three, we'll say it at the same time. Right?" Arianna suggested, bracing herself with her reply.

Luke nodded, "alright,", waiting for Clive to begin.

"Three."

_Oh my God what do I say?_

"Two."

_What's going to be best for us in the long-term? What's going to be best for her?_

"One."

_What do you want, Luke? Your time's almost up._

"Zero."


	47. Chapter 47

**Things I have learnt today:**

**Art is a dangerous subject.**  
**Lino cutting tools cut people too ;_;**  
**It's harder to type with a plaster on your thumb ._.**

**Ah well, mustn't grumble and whatnot. How've you all been? ^.^**

**I don't think it sounds weird, Rosalia, I think it makes sense, in a way :)**

**Could work, _could. _I ain't giving anything away just yet, Juanitaylor ;)**

**Aw, I'm sorry Imagine Worlds x) You can find out now though, I promise :3**

**That is really cool, Emily! Tell them I say thanks (if it turns out they do, anyhoo xD) :D**

**Thanks Bry :D and here it is ^.^**

**~nellen, who is slowly but surely running out of keyboard faces to use :L xx**

* * *

_"Zero."_

"Keep it!" The two children yelled in unison, equally surprised at their own responses.

"Huh?" The boy frowned slightly, as he tried to take everything in, "y-you really.. You want this?

"I was going to ask you the same question." Arianna almost laughed at the surreality of it all, a nervous reaction if anything.

"Well, I better um... I should... Have you two had dinner yet? No? Good, uh, I mean food. I'll.. I'll go make some food." Clive flustered his words, in a bid to excuse himself from the room.

_This is their time, besides, you look like the biggest third wheel in the world._

Flashing them a brisk smile, he quickly ran to the door, Bruno ambling along in tow. "You two have fun now!"

"So.. You... You're not... You're serious?" The girl mumbled, as the door slammed shut, "you want this?"

"Yes, Ari, I'm serious. But it's your decision," Luke murmured, taking both of her hands in his own, "and I'll stick by you no matter what."

"Well... Well I... Oh I don't know!" Arianna wailed, burying herself in Luke's shirt. "I want this too, b-but I... I'm just so scared! What if something happens? What if I chicken out halfway through?"

"You won't, darling, you won't. You're a lot stronger than that," he soothed, gently rubbing her shoulder. "Just don't do this unless it's what you really want.."

"I... I think it is. I... Yes. Luke. Promise you'll stay with me?"

"I promise."

"And you promise you'll not chicken out halfway through?"

"I promise."

"And you promise we can do this?"

"Yes, Arianna, I promise. We can do this."


	48. Chapter 48

**Ah, I forgot to say in the last chapter, I've got mock exams all this week, so if the chapter after this (which is due.. Wednesday, right?) isn't exactly on time, that's probably the reason why. It's kind of unlikely that it will, but, y'know, I like to take precautions x)**

* * *

**Haha, I don't think many people would have had him down as that kind of kid either, Imagine Worlds :L Thank you :)**

**And thank you too Rosalia, both for the review and the advice! It's healing up pretty well, and it's stopped stinging now, hooray :D**  
**Art's good if the teacher's good, that's the main thing that I've learned this year, but if you enjoy it enough, then go for it! :3**

**Also have any of you guys seen/played The Last of Us? Reckon it's fic-able? I'm curious.. ~nellen ^.^ xx**

* * *

"So... You guys come to a conclusion?"

"Keeping it," Luke nodded, pulling out a chair for himself and his girl.

"For now anyway," Arianna added, thanking the boy and sitting down quietly. Almost instinctively, a hand folded across her stomach, which she didn't remove this time.  
Luke frowned slightly.  
"For now?" He mouthed, as the older boy turned his back.

"Well, we don't... There are always other options.." she whispered back, "but I'm still keeping it to term.. I think.."

"Huh? To term?"

"I'll explain later, you'll have to get used to stuff like this.."

"Is soup alright? It's literally all I could be bothered to make," Clive smiled, glancing up from his cooking.

He hadn't heard anything of their muttered conversation, much to the relief of the couple.

"Soup sounds great," Luke grinned back, stifling a yawn. "I think I might head of to bed after this, I'm exhausted."

"Me too," the older boy laughed, "and all I've done is lounge around all day. I miss my Flora.."

"Missed you too lovely," a voice chirped from the doorway.

"Huh? Flora!" His tired face lit up at the sight of his girlfriend, kicking her shoes off at the door. "Did you have a nice time?"

"I did, did you? Oh, we have company," the girl beamed, running over to hug the two children. "Hiya, I didn't realise you were back together. Lovely to see you both again."

"How much did you have to drink?" Luke laughed, wriggling free of the cuddle after making sure to save Arianna.

"Lovely to see you too, Flora," she added, looping her fingers through the boy's.

"Not that much you cheeky sod," Flora giggled, quickly moving on to her own boyfriend.

Clive's eager grin had faded slightly, as he watched her totter over. "But more than you normally would. How's Kate?"

"Kate was fine, brilliant in fact. She wasn't drinking at all though. Weird."

"I'm sure she had her reasons."

"Like what?"

"I'll tell you later, I'm just going to sort their tea out," he replied, nodding at Luke and Ari.

"Okay," Flora smiled, "I'll go and get changed."

"Definitely not sober. Look, I'll make sure she's alright-"

"-I wasn't.. Flora's fine, I'm not worrie-" The youngest boy began, almost immediately cut off by his friend.

"Yeah well I am, okay? Just don't say anything. Not yet. I'll talk to her later. The soup's almost done, reckon you can sort this yourselves? Sorry, just, I heard a noise from-"

"You worry far, far too much Dove," Luke chuckled, taking over from his friend. "Go on, go and pander to her every somewhat tipsy whim. I've got this."

"You're a godsend," Clive grinned, hugging the younger boy tight.

"Do you want a boyfrie- oh, uh, sorry," Ari blushed, as the two boys turned to stare. "I've had the Vaccines stuck in my head for ages, it was playing in the chemist's the other day.."

Clive just laughed, "you, Miss Barde, are growing on me more and more as the day progresses. Goodnight you two," he smiled, kissing the girl lightly on the head as he passed, "take care, sleep well and whatnot."

"You too!"

* * *

"Arianna?" Luke whispered, curled up beneath the covers, "Arianna, are you still awake?"

He waited a few moments, but there wasn't an answer, the girl's quiet breathing the only sound in the room.

The boy chuckled lightly to himself, kissing her gently on the head. "Goodnight then sweetheart, sleep well."


	49. Chapter 49

**Oh, I forgot another thing that I needed to tell you last chapter, something kinda important.**

**No chapters all next week (after Saturday's anyhoo), because I'm going to France, with school, and it's my first time abroad and stuff. Hooray! :D**

***a lot lot lot more excited than she appears, honest!***

**The next chapter (after Saturday's) _should _be up on the 13th, or the 14th, depending on how much I get done over the week. Hope that's all agreeable and such ^.^**

**I do not think I used agreeable right.. Ah well :L**

**Thank you for the good luck, and happy belated birthday Rosalia! Personally, I kind of wish there'd been some choice with the end of The Last of Us. I would have picked the original ending anyways (accidentally fell completely in love with Ellie, in a 'she's a really really cool character and someday I hope I'll be half as cool as her and maybe even get to know a guy like Joel because he's awesome too' kind of way), but I can imagine that some people might be a little annoyed with how the whole Fireflies thing turned out. Either way I hope there's a sequel x)**  
**Til then, I'll have to stick with reading fanfiction, and possibly trying to write some between other things as well :)**  
**Oh, and I got the best mental image of Clive as a puppy after reading your review, so thank you for that too haha :3**

**Hello sajelajeelaa12, and thank you very very much! I'm really glad you like my stories, and left such a lovely review :D **  
**Don't worry, you don't seem annoying at all, and I only hope that I managed to spell your name right xD**

**Thanks again for the nice reviews, and DFTBA! ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

"Morning Luke, how's Ari?" Clive yawned, rubbing some sleep from his eye as he stumbled through the doorway.

"Still asleep," the young boy smiled back, closing his book and shuffling along so his friend would have somewhere to sit, "Flora?"

"Same. What's that you're reading, anything good?"

"Uh, not really.. It's um, it's a.."

"Looks sciencey- oh... Where'd you get it?"

"It's one of Flora's, she used to take biology. Look, don't laugh, okay? I was just curious.."

"I'm not laughing," Clive replied, taking the book from his hands. "I used to take biology too. All the way to A level, passed with flying colours-"

"-you mean a C?"

"Actually I somehow scraped a B. Look, point of the story is I know some of this stuff too. Less of the weird girly lovey dovey stuff, but some of the science stuff," he continued, skimming through the pages and forcing himself not to search for a pen and doodle obscenities on some of the diagrams.

_Ah, sweet childhood memories. Adding 'detail' to the bodies of awkward, turtle-neck wearing science book models.._

"Like what?"

"All sorts. It's split into three trimesters, signs and symptoms include nausea, excessive tiredness and fatigue, and cravings for stuff that wouldn't normally be sought out by the girl. Morning sickness usually gets a bit better after the first couple of months."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, but it's all a bit gross for this time in the morning. Girls are yucky."

"How old even are you?" Luke laughed, reclaiming his book and sliding it back onto the shelf.

"Old enough to say that girls are weird and actually be able to back up that statement with actual reasons and everything."

"Girls aren't yucky or weird. They're nice and beautiful and occasionally scary."

"And weird. But weird is good, so, yeah I guess. Speaking of weird, I'm guessing you're feeling pretty, uh, weird about this whole.. Thing.. Am I right?"

"Right," the boy nodded, "although maybe terrified would be more accurate. I'm not ready for this Dove. Not at all."

Clive sighed, pulling his friend in for a hug. "C'm'ere you, look, don't be so afraid. I can't promise it's all going to be easy, but I can promise it's going to be okay. Okay?"

"Okay," Luke mumbled, "but it's really hard to not be scared though, you know? I mean what if something happens to her? That would tear me apart.. I can't.. Imagine if this was reversed, right? Are you telling me that you wouldn't be scared too?"

"I'd be going bloody crazy, I'm not going to lie. Just, you'll just have to trust me, alright? When have I ever been wrong about this kind of thing?"

"Well there was that time-"

"Do I hear footsteps?"

"Only me," came a voice, as the door creaked open. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake Flora."

"S'alright Ari, she could sleep through a hurricane," Clive chuckled, as she crept into the room, "you okay?"

"Meh," the girl shrugged, "I've felt better. Haven't been sick though, yet anyways."

"Here, you can have my seat. I'm gonna take Bruno for a walk, get the papers and that. If Flo wakes up, tell her I won't be long," the older boy smiled, uncurling himself from his chair. "You should get used to this."

"I think I could," she giggled, cuddling in next to Luke.

"Good," he chuckled, hugging her back, "I could get used to cuddles like this too."

"Did you mean it?" She whispered, so that only he could hear.

"Mean what, love?" He whispered back, squeezing her shoulders tight.

"The bit about you being scared?"

"Yep. But it's okay. I'm good with fear."

"No you're not, we played Slender together in the daylight and you still nearly cried," Clive grinned, interrupting their secret chat. "See? It's not only Ari that's good at listening in."

He winced at the look of loathing Luke flashed him, shaking it off in an instant. "Buuut, Slender isn't real, and I've never seen Luke actually terrified before-" _-blatant lie- _"-so by that logic, he probably is very good with fear. He'll look after you, I can promise that on his behalf, so don't worry about it. Hakuna matata and all that jazz."

"Now I will admit to crying at that. Not that particular scene, but still."

"Me too. It's a man thing."

"I cried too," Arianna interjected with a nervous giggle, "then again, who didn't?"

"Excellent point, Arianna," Clive noted, slipping into his jacket, "excellent point."


	50. Chapter 50

**Britain would get a heat wave just as I'm about to leave for France, wouldn't it?**

**Hope you're all enjoying the sun! ^_^**

**Sorry, this was meant to be up yesterday, but I was all caught up in packing and stuff for tomorrow, so it's going to have to be a little late x**

**Nah, no secret listening this time, Rosalia, and I have to agree with you on the Slenderman thing. Have you ever seen Marble Hornets? Couldn't open the curtains for quite a while after that x)**

**I'm still here Emily, I'm leaving tomorrow, but I promise I won't be long! I'll miss you guys :3**

**Thank you Imagine Worlds ^.^ Mock exams are a pain haha x)**

**And thank you too Lolidge, ma belle :) I shall!**

**Ah, hello again Someone, and don't worry, I know exactly what you mean haha, there's just so much to keep up with these days! As for your questions, well, I'll do my best;**

**1. Odds are it was repossessed, or used to repair the damage caused by his machine. Presumably there'd be fines involved too.**

**2. I'mma be completely honest with you here, he got five years because A) I didn't want him to be too old in the story, and B) I really do not know or understand the British justice system enough to write about it accurately, like I hardly know anything at all, which probably isn't good, considering I am British and all.. I know vague bits of trivia, and some of the basics, but apart from that, nothing :L**

**Righto, that's that done :)**

**Au revoir, mon petit croissants, and I'll see you all again next week :D ~nellen xx**

* * *

"'S'up Flora? You look.. Tired.."

"'S'up is not a gentlemanly greeting. If Clive can't use it, neither can you."

"Clive's posher than me."

"Shut up."

"Alright, alright, calm down dearest. I was just saying.." Luke chuckled, rolling his eyes.

He watched as the girl shuffled over to the kettle, and how she flinched at every tiny noise and movement.

"Where's Ari? I vaguely remember her being here last night," she mumbled, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"She's getting ready, we've got school in like half an hour."

"School started about half an hour ago, you mean."

"Not today," the boy smiled, "we only have a few lessons today. You can even check the phone and everything."

"How so?"

"I don't know, ask Shelley," he muttered, glancing up as his girlfriend returned to the room.

"Morning Flora," Arianna chirped, nodding at Luke, who mouthed the words "you okay?"

"Morning Ari," Flora replied, "you feeling alright?"

"Uh... Yeah.."

"Ah good, just Clive said you were feeling a bit poorly, that's all. Speaking of Clive," she continued, pouring herself a coffee, "where is my favourite toff?"

"He took Bruno to get the papers. Said he wouldn't be long," Luke answered, adjusting his tie. "I hate these things, always feel like I'm being choked."

"Well you look smart at least," Flora sighed, forcing a smile. "I had to wear one when I was at school too. Took me years to learn how to tie them. Ugh, I'm going back to bed. If you see Clive on your way to school, let him know I'm upstairs. That boy's worrying will be the end of him."

"Luke's exactly the same, you know," Ari giggled, "think it's a man thing?"

"Probably," Flora smirked, as she sauntered out of the room, "but then again, what would we do without them?"

Both girls laughed, Arianna falling silent as soon as the door swung shut.

"We have to tell her," she whispered, once their friend was out of earshot.

"We will," the boy murmured back, brushing an auburn strand from her eyes, "one day."


	51. Chapter 51

**BONJOUR MES PETITS LAPINS!**

**I missed you guys :3**

**I think it was a bit of both, Rosalia, a bit of both. Marble Hornets was alright, I watched it in the day so it was a lot less scary x)**  
**Don't be fooled by the name, it's a kind of 'documentary' web series about Slender, if I remember correctly. Très effrayant..**  
**I got the app! Haven't got around to playing it yet though ._. Good luck with your fic! I'm sure it'll be awesome ^.^**

**Emillyyyyyyy:D I did have fun, thanks:3 Hello again :)**

**Also holy wowballs it's been hot this week, how've you lot been enjoying the sun?**

**~nellen, who's not usually so keen on warm weather, but has had a change of heart ^_^ xx**

* * *

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes Luke, as I have told you twenty previous times this hour, I am feeling alright," Arianna sighed wearily, shutting her maths book with a quiet thud.

"Sorry," the boy grinned, a pinkish glow in his cheeks, "force of habit."

"It's alright," she smiled, "just, just tone it down a little, eh? People might start to wonder if you're constantly on high alert around me. Besides, I really am feeling okay today. I guess I'm a bit hungry if anything."

"Good thing it's lunch then," Luke beamed, taking her by the arm, smile faltering as he muttered, "and then we have to discuss Flora."

_Flora. Flora, Flora, Flora. How are we going to tell Flora?_

"You know, I think Clive's offer seems the safest option at the minute. At least if he breaks it to her, she'll have time to calm down," Arianna pointed out, playing absent-mindedly with her food as they sat in the noisy canteen. "I don't.. Well.. Call me soft, but I don't think I'm really up for a shouting match.."

"No, no I don't think your soft. You're right anyways, an argument would just be more stress. And you, well, _we_ really don't need that," Luke replied, squeezing her hand beneath the table. "But maybe, maybe in that case I should tell her too. With Clive, I mean. Saves you any trouble, but saves me any 'why didn't _you_ tell me?' questions later on."

_Besides, I don't want to cause any problems between Flora and Clive. And maybe she might just listen to me._

"Ah, that would make sense I suppose. What, um, what about.. Layton?"

The boy's chest froze, "well uh, we'll um... Ugh, Clive mentioned this too, but I still haven't given it any thought. Maybe we could just not tell him. Maybe we can pull this off."

"Unlikely, but what choice do we have, I guess. Oh god, I'll have to tell Tony.."

Luke's heart jumped violently back into action, thudding nervously beneath his shirt. "Shit, I never thought of that at all.. He doesn't come back until later this year though, does he?"

"No, he's still in Misthallery, and he's staying there until August. I've got the house to myself until then."

"August.. That gives us.." The boy counted on his fingers, "seven more months? I'm not really sure.. Hey, speaking of months, when do you suppose.. Well... When is it.."

"When am I due, you mean?" Arianna smiled, quickly lowering her voice as a gaggle of girls strolled past. "Let's see, it's March now, so... December? We have six months until Tony comes back," she calculated, nodding to herself after checking it over a few times.

"Does that mean what I think that means?"

"What do you think it means?"

"Christmas baby?"

"Oh, possibly I suppose," the girl shrugged, "I guess we'll see.."

"Awesome!" Luke grinned, "uh, I mean yeah.. We'll see."


	52. Chapter 52

**Partway through uploading this, I engaged in a vicious battle of Robot Unicorn Attack highscores with a friend of mine, so you'll have to excuse the lateness/any spelling mistakes, sorry x)**

**Me too Imagine Worlds, but I guess we'll have to wait and see! ;) In all honesty, I completely forgot about telling Tony too, that's why it wasn't mentioned until now :P**

**France was very hot, juanitaylor, but also very very fun :) and thank you! I'm glad you're liking it, and bothering to stick around haha :D**

**Aw, merci beaucoup, Emily, j'adore your reviews in return :3**

**Thank you all for still being here, by the way, it's been a long journey thus far :')**

**~nellen hopes you all have a lovely last week of term (in the UK), or an otherwise fabulous time :D xx**

**~~Slight language warning~~**

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready for this? Like, positive? Because its okay if you're not, you know."

"No no, I am, I'm ready. I think. I mean.. Lets just get this over with, right?"

"It's your call.." Clive muttered, raising his eyebrows as he stared at the ground. "Just say when."

"When." Luke sighed, after a few moments' pause. "Time to tell Flora."

"Tell me what, Triton?" The girl piped up, startling both the boys immensely. "Hey, what's up with you both? You've been on edge all day."

"What oh, uh, nothing.." The youngest stuttered, as his friend began biting his nails. "I'm fine."

"Clive?"

"Sames. Wait, what? I mean, I'm fine too," he blushed, as she took his hands and held them by his sides.

"It's an awful habit," she laughed quietly, "and a nervous one too. Seriously, what's wrong? I'm all ears."

The two males exchanged glances and nods, and Luke spoke up once more.

"Um, Flora, uh.. How.. How would you feel at the prospect of, how do I say it, becoming an Aunt?"

The silence that followed was almost painfully awkward, as the girl started to register the information she'd just acquired.

Clive tried flashing Luke a reassuring smile, although his lip twitched occasionally, as though fighting off a comment.

"... Congratulations!" Flora finally cried after what felt like hours, pulling the incredibly confused dad-to-be in for a hug. "I can't say I'm pleased, but, I guess it's not really my business to get cross over. So uh, when's she due?"

"What?"

"Well, y'know, when's the baby coming?"

"Wait, you're _actually _cool with this?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Getting mixed messages here Flo."

The girl sighed, breaking away from the hug. "As I've mentioned, I'm not pleased at all, but, again, it's not.. Look, you'll always have a friend in us, okay? Even if you get like twenty other girls pregnant, we're still here."

"Um... Alright.. I really love you guys, you know that, right?" Luke grinned, burying himself back in Flora's arms. "It's due December, we think."

"Aw, lovely, a Christmas baby. Oh and Luke?"

"Yes Flora?"

"If you ever come here and tell me that you've accidentally gotten twenty different girls pregnant, I will legitimately fucking kill you," she growled, smiling sweetly as they broke apart again.

"... Understood." Luke laughed, shaking his head. "Understood."


	53. Chapter 53

**Broke the schedule again, sorry :L**

**I went to a relative's barbeque, then somehow ended up not sleeping until 4am. Regretted that today..**

**France was awesome Emily, although I did kind of miss a steady internet connection :L**

**And you guys, I missed you lot too :3**

**I don't want her to be responsible for that either, Rosalia, and that sounds awesome :D**

**Britain's heatwave is doing something weird at the minute, it's still hot, but not as sunny. Hope it perks up again for the rest of the holidays! x)**

**Well, that's all for tonight. Goodnight you lovely lot, remember to keep reading and reviewing! ~nellen :) xx**

* * *

Luke sat quietly in the armchair, as two pairs of eyes watched him from the sofa. His fingers twitched nervously, his own pupils flickering around the room.

_I shouldn't be scared. Why am I scared? They just want a few answers. They're my friends._

He sighed, questions always made him anxious, but Flora wasn't nearly finished yet.

"Have you made an appointment for the doctor's or anything?"

"No.."

"Are you going to?"

"Um.. Probably, I suppose we have to, right? I'll need to ask Ari about that."

"How far along did you says she was?"

"Two weeks."

"Oh, so it _was _at the party, right?" She was incredibly persistent, to the boy's obvious discomfort.

"Maybe.. Let me talk to him later, look, he's not-" Clive began to murmur, cut off by a silent shake of the girl's head.

The youngest sighed, finally snapping.

"Yes. It _was_ at the party. Yes, I had sex with Arianna Barde at Crow's house party two weeks ago and now she's pregnant and it's definitely mine. Yes, we're keeping the baby, as far as I know at least, and it's due in December. No, we haven't made any appointments yet, or told anybody outside of you both. No, we do not plan on telling the Professor, Tony, or indeed my mother until further on in the pregnancy. Yes, she's been suffering with a little morning sickness recently, no we don't need to take time off school just yet. Please, heaven forbid, are there _any more questions?_"

Clive laughed, quickly stopping himself before it got out of hand. "Not from me. Um, Flora?"

"Just one." She replied curtly, sitting up straighter in her chair.

"Oh, well in that case, _please_, do not hesitate to ask," Luke muttered again, rolling his eyes.

"How exactly do you and Arianna, a pair of, for the lack of a better word, _jobless _fifteen year-olds, plan on both providing and caring for a newborn baby, whilst still managing to pass all of your GCSEs and keep up with all of your schoolwork, not to mention looking after yourselves and finding a way to pay for the kid's future as well as your own?"

"Oh.. Well.. Uh.. You see, um... Oh."


	54. Chapter 54

***Announcing a Thing***

**~A sort of Summer Hiatus~**

**Hi:) This may or may not be the last chapter for a week or two, and I'm sorry about that. I've been having some issues with the internet recently, as well as some problems with the actual app I do my writing on (it keeps crashing, and then erases all of my latest things once I reopen it), which, as you can imagine, is somewhat frustrating :L**

**Along with the technical issue-y side of this, I guess I just kind of want to take a break from writing for a little while. I've had some pretty mean writer's block on and off for the last few weeks, hence later updates and somewhat sucky chapters, and well, it's the summer, and I guess I've not really been concentrating so well on doing this..**

**I'll still be uploading some chapters over the next few weeks, just a little less frequently than normal. I suppose it's technically not much of a hiatus, 'cause I will still be writing, but, eh, I'm not good at definitions and things x)**

**Also I figured you guys might want a break, because let's be honest, this thing has been dragging on a while. And besides, it's your summer too, you'll be out doing cool things and going on holidays and reading better things and stuff :D**

**Sorry if I sound like a bit of a drama queen, I'm really not very good at explaining things like this :L**

**And I fully agree with you Emily, they really should have WiFi everywhere! xD**

**See you all again properly in around five weeks, as well as a few quick times in between ^_^ ~nellen, who hopes you all have brilliant Summers, and try not to get too sunburnt! :) xxx**

* * *

"Flora's right, you know, we haven't thought about that at all.." Arianna murmured, after Luke had told her about the chat. "We, well, the baby's going to need... A lot of money.."

"We can make it work though," he whispered back, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "I'll find a job, we can save up. We can get help, all kinds of it. I mean, just the other day Clive was talking about his inheritance, apparently there's a chance there was some still left with Spring and Cogg. Even Constance didn't trust him to look after things without losing them, it would seem."

His weak smile faded to almost nothing, as a few tears rolled down the girl's cheeks.

"Oh, oh no, darling please, it's.. It's okay, I promise.."

"It's not though, is it?" She wailed, burying her face in his neck. "We've got no money, we can't borrow anyone else's- no, Luke, we can't. Not even Clive's- we can't still go to school and cope with this, and my back hurts and I feel really sick and I don't know how much of this I can take."

"Wh.. What do you mean?"

_Oh come on Luke, you know exactly what she means. Just don't fucking cry, whatever you do._

"I-I mean, I mean I don't know if I can do this! I mean God, I'm barely two weeks in and I just... I don't know, I don't know!" She cried, choking out words between sobs. "I'm scared Luke, I'm really, really scared. And I don't.. Have we made the right choice? Because I don't know.."

"I don't know either, sweetheart, I really don't. But what I do know," the boy whispered, his voice shuddering dangerously as he tried his best to comfort his girl, "is that we can get help. You, well, we, don't have to face this alone. We _can _do this, I know it. We just have to ask."

He gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs, pulling her in closer for a hug. His fingertips brushed her cheek, then her neck, trailing all the way down her back until they curled around her waist.

"I promise, Arianna, you'll never be alone. Not now, not ever. Okay?"

"O-okay," she sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "B-but who.. Where do we go? I don't want to ask for help from the school, and I really don't want to borrow money from Clive..""

"Trust me, Clive wouldn't mind at all. Besides, he owes me _at least_ a hundred in unpaid bets. I won that race fair and square, even if I did nearly run someone's cat over," Luke replied, laughing at the look Ari flashed him, "it's a long story. Probably not one I should go into detail about. The cat was completely unharmed. Anyhoo, he really wouldn't care that much, and I'd pay him back over time. I don't want to ask the school for help either, but that's okay, 'cause we don't have to. Flora and Clive know a clinic nearby, I'm sure a doctor could help us, and talk us through our options and stuff. We've still got plenty of time for this, okay sweetheart? We've still got plenty of time."

"That.. I guess you're right.." The girl mumbled, yawning and snuggling into his chest, "we've got loads of time, haven't we?"

"We've got all the time in the world, princess. All the time in the world."


	55. Chapter 55

**So uh.. Hey (^_^')**

**Um, before I start to do anything, I just want to apologize. Again.**

**I get that I say sorry in these a lot, like 'sorry it's late guys' or 'sorry it's kinda short' or even the occasional 'sorry I won't be writing for a while because I have things to do and yeah', and, well, this is more of a sorry than those ones.**

**STORY TIME!**

**I was on tumblr the other day, after the first week back at school, and I saw one particular post that kind of hit me more than it should have.**

**"Finding really good fanfiction that slowly gets worse and worse because the author loses interest in it."**

**Now I'm not saying this was ever 'really good', I mean it was just an idea, a dumb thing that I'd had running in my head for a while that I finally wrote down.**  
**But I feel like it was getting worse, because I was running out of those ideas, yet still trying to churn out a few chapters a week, essentially forcing myself to write stuff that maybe I wasn't 100% happy with. And it was getting slow, and it was getting dull, and I felt like I could feel you guys losing interest too.**

**So, I guess this is me trying to say that, yeah, I am sorry that this is really dragging on, and I am sorry that this is late (I said six weeks but it's been like eight my bad), and I am sorry that I'm kinda dumb and worry too much about apologizing and making people happy when really I should just be putting more effort in instead of lying around thinking about stuff I should be doing. But, I dunno, it's just.. I need more time to do stuff. _I'm_ slow, never mind the plot x)**

**Soooo, I'm sorry for this long, dumb, feel-filled A/N (also for saying sorry more times than humanly possible in such a short space of time), but, eh, I guess I've been meaning to say this for a while, and what better time to do that than when making a minor comeback after an eight week break, right?**

**In terms of the story itself, I'm no longer so sure where this is going. I'm not gonna just stop completely, because, well, after bringing it this far, that just seemed silly. But I'm also not gonna be posting so many chapters either, for the reasons that were vaguely mentioned above.**

**Thus far, the plan is to keep writing this, but in my own time. Now that could mean chapters once a week, once every fortnight, I'm not really sure. But I think that might be best, because it's not like I'd be rushing to get it finished, or just sharing more itty bitty scraps of unnecessary conversations. I'd still be doing it, just at a more comfortable pace. And in effect, I'd have more time to do other writing (got some more Mad Father stuff on the go, as well as some Kick Ass and Attack on Titan fluff in progress ^_^), and complete all of the homework and revision and lord knows what else that's due to get dumped on me in the coming year.. o_O**

**So, I really hope that this is okay with you guys, and again, I'm sorry for this really stupid little (_little? _This is longer than the goddamn chapter!) outburst, and hey, just stay awesome, okay? Because as often as I might say sorry, I don't think I say thanks quite nearly enough.**

**Thank you for sticking with this no matter how boring it was getting, and thank you for being such lovely people, and just, thank you for being you haha :)**

* * *

***Sighs* Well, after that long and nonsensical personal rant thingamajig, I suppose it's time we got on with the story!**

**Also, hello again Emily, I missed you too, did you have a nice holiday? :)**

**And as for you, Someone, please, don't worry about being critical or anything. In fact, it was kind of your review that gave me the kick start I needed to even post this chapter, heck it could have been weeks before I finally got round to doing it otherwise! I appreciate what you've said, and I'm going to try and take those pointers into account for the future chapters of this thing (also thank you for confirming Tony's age, that was kind of a gray area for me until now :L), and, minor spoiler alert, the 'not telling the Professor', is one of the things I was planning to include later on, as part of something else haha, so yeah, that's why that's the way it is :P**

***More sighs* Well, that's that. I'm a little nervous about the big-ass personally sh*t at the start of this, but I guess it had to be said sooner or later x)**

**Stay groovy you wonderful people! :D ~nellen xxxx**

* * *

Making an appointment at the family planning clinic had been surprisingly easy. One quick phone call later and the job had been done.

Actually turning up, however, had proven a much harder task.

"I'm so nervous," Arianna squeaked, clinging to Luke's arm as they approached the little building. "I don't know if I can.. Ugh.. Let's go home."

"No, Ari," the boy chuckled, kissing her cheek, "we're not chickening out of this one."

"Excuse you, I make my own decisions, and I, Arianna Barde, declare myself to be officially chickening out of this entire shebang. Good day," the girl announced, turning sharply on her heels.

"No," Luke laughed, gently yanking her back to his side. "You are not 'officially chickening out' of anything, especially not this one. Look, darling, I'm terrified too, but we really have to do this. Okay? For us, and maybe this little guy, or girl," he smiled, resting a hand on her stomach.

He wasn't joking, he really was terrified. But he had to be strong for Ari, and that was enough to keep him going.

"But I don't want to go.."

"Oh come on, sweetheart, it's going to be fine, I promise," the boy soothed, having somehow succeeded in leading her to the door. He laced his fingers through hers, giving them a comforting squeeze. "Besides, the lady is super nice, apparently."

The lady, or Nurse Healey, as she was more professionally known, was incredibly nice, as it turned out.

_And kinda hot too.._

"So, you must be Luke and Arianna," the young woman smiled, a little too brightly, "I'm Nurse Healey, what can I help you with?"

"Well, um, you see.."

* * *

"You really should have been more careful, you know," the woman sighed, sliding them a bundle of leaflets across the desk. "Oh, you have no idea how many kids I have to say that to.. I think there's some more information in a different one though, I'll have a look through the draws."

"We know, we just weren't thinking at the time," Arianna replied, kicking Luke's shin beneath the desk.

"What?" He hissed quietly, as soon as the nurse's back was turned.

"You know what," the girl whispered back, scowling slightly as she did so. "Stop checking her out."

"Jealous are we?" The boy chuckled, "oh come on darling, you know my eyes are only for you."

"And her arse."

"Right, so, oh," Nurse Healey frowned slightly, as she turned around to see Luke shaking with silent laughter, "you know I'm not really sure this is something to joke about, young man."

"Wha- oh, oh, I know, sorry Miss," he blushed, coughing as he tried to disguise the giggles and the slight crack in his voice as he spoke.

_Bollocks, of all the times for my voice to start breaking._

"I was laughing about something else."

"Right.. Oh, well I suppose, oh I don't know anymore," Healey sighed, "I found the other leaflet, you can have this one too. Just have a read through them and then we can discuss some of the options further. Any questions, feel free to ask."

"If.. If hypothetically I were to keep the baby, which at the moment would be the preferred option, would there be help available afterwards?" Ari enquired tentatively, sliding the papers back across the desk.

"As in childcare, benefits, that sort of thing?"

"Uh, yes," Luke nodded, "we're um, we're going to be in the middle of exams, see? And well, our parents both... Work away.."

"Well, this tends to be discussed nearer the time," the woman chuckled weakly, "but in short, yes. There is and will be a lot of help available for the two of you, should you make that choice."

"Okay, thank you, I think we've made our decision."

"We have?" Luke frowned slightly, tilting his head as he watched his girlfriend thumb through another pamphlet.

"Yes, we have."

"Oh, and, uh, what might that decision be?"

"Oh for goodness' sake, Luke, what do you bloody think it'll be?"


End file.
